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Churchill: The Agile PM (Part 11)
Most people are very familiar with Winston Churchill but may not be familiar with his “agile” approach to project management and his skills as a PM in the summer of 1940. Part 10 looked at how Churchill set up a governance framework to transform the U.K. This article discusses the tactical choices he made to meet the short term objectives of his project, and the initial designs of the solution.
In 1940, emerging technology had mechanized warfare (Part 3) were agility was the new mode of operation in the military, so armies could move very rapidly. In April 1940, the invasion of Denmark and Norway demonstrated agility in action, as a combination of highly coordinated forces on sea, land and air had been very successful. Roads thought impossible were traversed quickly by mobile troops.
In May 1940 during the Battle of Flanders, armored columns covered 40 to 50 miles per day. Aircraft flying multiple sorties could strike four to five times a day. In the air it was not single dogfights anymore: squadron fought squadron. Fighters protected large fleets of bombers. Blitzkrieg came as a surprise to the British military that had fought in France with a First World War mind set still relying on fortified defenses, and immovable trenches that were rapidly overrun and surrounded by mobile forces.
In today’s world, the term “agility&…
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"Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard of no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." - William Shakespeare |