Lessons Learned in Close Quarters Combat
Submitted by Antony Marcano on Thu, 04/12/2008 - 08:56.
agile | people issues
My 'Technically Speaking' column article "Lessons Learned in Close Quarters Combat" has been publushed in the December 2008 issue of Better Software Magazine. The summary reads as follows:
Few would think that Special Forces tactics bear any relation to software project teams. But Antony Marcano draws a surprising parallel between the dynamics of modern Special Forces “room-clearing” methods and the dynamics of modern software development teams.
It begins as follows...
I’m at the door, heart pounding so loudly I’m sure everyone can hear it. Four silhouettes are flat to the wall. I’m point man, stuck to the edge of the door we’re about to breach. The team lead whispers through a covert radio mike, “Alpha 1 in position.” Silence … tense anticipation … then, after a thirty-second eternity, my earpiece crackles as control responds, “Standby … Standby … Strike! Strike! Strike!”
The method of entry (MOE) man, on the opposite edge of the door frame, kicks in the door; behind me, the team lead throws in a stun grenade. BANG! As point man, I enter first—followed by number two. Five action-packed seconds and three targets later, we call out, “ROOM CLEAR!”
You can read the rest of the article in the December 2008 issue of Better Software Magazine.
Update:Or you can read the entire article in the online edition of the magazine.