Agility is a term that is gaining traction in some very unusual places. The military is suddenly taking Agility (big “A”) very seriously. The military defines Agility as “the ability to successfully respond to change”. The term “command and control” is used so commonly in the military that is abbreviated to “C2” in common usage. There is also a C2 Journal, a journal all about Command and Control. The C2 Journal has had many articles on Agility recently.
Earlier this year, in March, a “Precis” was published by the Department of Defense Command and Control Research Center entitled The Agility Imperative. This document describes Agility as related to security and war. What is striking is the clarity of the language relative to software agility. Consider the following:
The document from the C2 Research Center has much to say about people. For example:
Those seeking clarity on the “command and control” vs. “Agile” debate are likely to enjoy examining the content at the Department of Defense Command and Control Research Center . For example, at this site, you can download a slide deck devoted to defining Agility in military terms. What is striking here is the near 100% overlap with descriptions of software development agility. Apparently, software development and war have much complexity in common: according to the Precis entitled “The Agile Emperative”, Agility applies anywhere there is a “Complex Endeavor” to deal with.
Does this sound familiar?
Requisite Agility
Some definitions and concepts that apply to the military use of Agility might be useful in the software development world, especially as applied to large IT shops that are organized around the waterfall approach. One such concept is Requisite Agility. The paper The Agility Imperative defines “Requisite Agility” as a balanced level of Agility, a capital-allocation concept not generally discussed in the agile literature when addressing the mixing agile and traditional approaches.
Another interesting paper found inside the C2 Journal on the C2 Research Center site, Agility, Focus, and Convergence: The Future of Command and Control makes some points that can be applied directly to software development Agility:
This C2 article goes on to say that ‘command and control’ is such a loaded term in the military that it limits perceptions and learning. Influential writers inside the military are working to change that language. The new suggested language uses Scrum values (Focus) and terminology from complexity science:
Another article on Agility in the C2 Journal, Agile Networking in Command and Control, focuses on how to incorporate “Agile C2” into modern military operations:
In project management, we debate the relative merits of traditional Project Managers and Agile approaches. Here the military is doing something similiar, referring to “Agile Command and Control” while we refer to “Agile Project Managers”. It is interesting to note the parallels, especially in light of heated discussions on the PMI-Agile Yahoo Group about the validity of “Agile Project Manager” hybrids which incorporate aspects of waterfall and agile approaches.
The military is directly studying this dynamic of mixing traditional C2 with Agility. Consider this quote from The Agility Imperative:
Those interested in articles and papers that address military Agility can search the C2 Research Center and quickly find resources such as papers, slide decks and web pages that cover Agility relative to traditional C2. The C2 Research Center is the place on the web where the best military minds are studying Agility relative to “Command and Control”. As such, it may be a great resource for those seeking to bridge Agility and traditional approaches.