Joel on Management

[jenk]

This week joelonsoftware is tackling management strategies for software companies. Today's is "Command and Control", based on military management.

[T]he military uses Command and Control because it’s the only way to get 18 year olds to charge through a minefield, not because they think it’s the best management method for every situation.

In particular, in software development teams where good developers can work anywhere they want, playing soldier is going to get pretty tedious and you’re not really going to keep anyone on your team.
- full article

One of the prereqs for making C&C work is that the underlings can't leave. The military, in general, has that prereq. Most other jobs don't. I've seen C&C used in software. Some of my coworkers, especially the ex-military, seemed to find it reassuring. I didn't. Fortunately for my ex-military boss, he did know when to shut up and listen to the technical expert, which in that case was usually me. Eventually he even grasped that he couldn't micromanage us all effectively....

As a side note, I find it interesting that someone whose military experience was in the Israeli army used a photo of white crosses to illustrate this article....