Play Soldier

Some little boys never grow up, and they love to play soldier. Once they attain positions of authority, they start referring to themselves as "leaders", start asking for SitReps and after-action reports from their subordinates, and quote Sun Tzu, Napoleon, and Patton whenever the going gets tough. They fantasize about courageously leading elite troops into glorious battles, and you get the feeling that they would like to go to work wearing a general's uniform and holding a riding crop, or wearing commando attire.

As long as this is just play, there is no harm done, and it may even be fun for the "troops". However, these games can be very unnerving to those who do not like playing at war, or who don't understand that it is all in good fun. Many think it is just plain silly, wondering if the make-believe soldier might later want to pretend to be a cowboy or an astronaut.

Some "leaders" mistake fantasy for reality and forget that they are not really soldiers. They impose harsh discipline and demand personal sacrifice from their subordinates. Anyone who questions orders is disloyal. Operational security demands that information be shared only on a need-to-know basis. Team members are expected to overcome all obstacles and to achieve their objectives, no matter what the cost. The result can be quite bloody, but losses are judged to be acceptable as long as victory is possible.

Most software development projects are not life-and-death struggles, and a win-at-any-cost strategy is inappropriate. If you like to PlaySoldier, do it on the weekends, and act like a grown-up when you are at work.

On the other hand, I have found that most, almost all, of the development teams I have worked on could have benefitted from some application of military discipline. Way too many projects have been hijacked by EmpireBuilders or FraidyCats. A proper control over a project could put an end to this.

Many times I have fantasized about making some design or architectural decision, having some snotface little twit argue about it to no gain, and simply putting a gun to his head to end the useless argument. Hee, hee.

Rest assured, having worked in a company founded and run by an ex-Marine, it's disorienting. We are expected to keep desks clean, because low-ranking soldiers crave order, and supervisors should impose organization upon them, according to the company policy manual.

It's against policy to bring PERSONAL guns to the office. Our company guns (for big-game-hunting junkets) are fine.

No personal weapons? Odd, of a US Marine, anyway: This is my weapons, there are many like it, but this one is mine...

See http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/08/08.html for some explanation of why military-style command-and-control generally doesn't work well in software companies.

See: ArmCl, WarfareAsSoftwareDevelopmentMetaphor, SigningUp, MilitaryStylePushups, GreenBeretCoding, IsYourCodeThatImportant