What can Software Development learn from the Iraq War?
Dec 16th, 2007 | Concepts, Skills
Wired magazine published a very interesting article about change in US military philosophy during the Iraq war. US started with idea of Network-Centric Warfare:
The US military could use battlefield sensors to swiftly identify targets and bomb them. Tens of thousands of warfighters would act as a single, self-aware, coordinated organism. Better communications would let troops act swiftly and with accurate intelligence, skirting creaky hierarchies.
The Army committed more than $230 billion to a network-centric makeover, on top of the billions the military had already spent on surveillance, drone aircraft, spy satellites, and thousands of GPS transceivers.
Advanced technology helped to achieve quick victories – the opposing forces in Iraq (and Afghanistan) were broken in matter of days. But years of struggle to establish the new order came after these victories. Seizing territory and destroying enemy forces was not enough for the success. American military have learned from these failures and started to change approach recently. They realized importance of winning trust, minds and hearts of local people to win the war.
General David Petraeus, commander of Multi-National Force in Iraq, knows all about these mind games. He oversaw the writing of the new counterinsurgency manual. The book counsels officers to reinforce the local economy and politics and build knowledge of the native culture, “an operational code’ that is valid for an entire group of people.” And the manual blasts the old, network-centric American approach in Iraq. “If military forces remain in their compounds, they lose touch with the people, appear to be running scared, and cede the initiative to the insurgents,” it says.
Sometimes software development projects are closer to military operations than to the engineering process. The situation often changes, pressure is building up and quick decisions are required. The software system is the end result of these operations and developers are in the forefront. The software system campaign is not finished after the initial development is over: people start using the system, administrators support it and developers continue evolving it over time.
What skills can developers learn to contribute to the overall success of the long software campaign beside coming with technical solutions?
We often rely on technology, new tools and smart strategies to win our software battles. But at the end, people will decide the fate of the software. Should we teach programmers how to win minds of people who use their software in addition to mastering superiority in technology solutions?
