Military strategies for better resource planning—Jerry Manas

Ten proven military strategies for better resource planning
Custer’s Last Stand, otherwise known as the Battle of the Little Bighorn, has almost become synonymous with failure. The year was 1876, and Custer was part of an army campaign to force Native American tribes off the gold-rich lands in South Dakota’s Black Hills.

He’d been warned that the territory was well defended by thousands of Sioux and Cheyenne Indians (as they were called at the time, thanks to the early European settlers in the New World mistakenly believing they were in India). Instead of planning a surprise attack or waiting for reinforcements as he was ordered, he decided to charge full speed ahead with all his troops toward the Little Bighorn River, in what is now Montana. As could be expected, they were easily defeated, with Custer and all 265 men in his regiment losing their lives, save for a sole half-Indian scout.

What can we learn from this about resource management? On the surface, the failure lesson seems obvious: Don’t go fool-heartedly into a sure failure where you’re grossly understaffed and all the odds are against you (a mistake organizations seem to make on a regular basis). But as we dig deeper, there’s more to this story.

Author: Jerry Manas
Review status: N/A

February 13, 2014

Project-Space—Greg McMahon

Project-Space: A new doctrine for warfare

Managers have long drawn concepts from the military in meeting business challenges, from marketing to leadership. The aim of this paper is to illustrate how some project management concepts might assist the development of military doctrine for modern war.

Developments to date in military doctrine appear most sophisticated at the conventional warfighting end of the Spectrum of Conflict models used by most defence forces. The doctrine at the ‘peace’ end of the spectrum appears less so.

Project management concepts, a ‘Project-space’ if you like, to accompany the Battle-space concepts in military doctrine, is discussed, using the examples of integration and stakeholder management as leads.

Author: Greg McMahon
Review status: Presented at the 2011 IPMA World Congress

March 1, 2012