Command and Control in Agile Project Management

D-Day, or Operation Overlord, is one of the most studied military campaigns in history. There were a number of factors that led to the success of the Allied invasion, and one in particular that contains a lesson for those of us who participate in agile project management.

The Allies landed on five beaches in northern France on June 6, 1944, code named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. At Utah, the 4th division landed in the wrong spot, several miles south of their planned landing. In command was General Theodore Roosevelt, who made the snap decision to get his troops off of the beach, press inland and try to connect with the 101st and 82nd airborne divisions rather than try to follow the initial plan and march north. At Omaha, General “Dutch” Cota and the 1st division were pinned down by the entrenched German 352nd infantry, whose position was missed by allied intelligence. Omaha was the scene of the bloodiest fighting on D-Day as a result. They went off-plan and called for naval destroyers to maneuver dangerously close to the beach to bombard the 352nd; this allowed allied soldiers to climb the cliffs and remove the machine-gun nests and 80mm guns which had held the 1st division back. At Gold, Juno and Sword beaches, forces under Field Marshal Montgomery met little resistance, and he decided to press these forces inland, taking several miles of territory on the first day of the invasion.

On the German side, confusion reigned. The 21st panzer division was stationed just south of Caen, and was commanded by Field Marshall Rundstedt. Although technically reinforced by the 12th SS panzer division located some 30 miles to the east, the 12th SS reported directly to Hitler, and refused requests from Rundstedt to help until receiving orders. At the time, Hitler was sleeping at Berchtesgaden, and did not wake up until almost noon. Frantic phone calls made by German field commanders for instructions were not answered until hours later. It was not until 4pm that Hitler gave his approval for the panzer divisions to participate and counterattack, but by then it was too late; the Allied forces had a firm foothold in France, and within a week their number of forces would triple.

General Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, gave us a powerful lesson in leadership and the role of command and control in an environment where there is rapid local change. He authorized all of his field commanders to make on-the-spot decisions based on local conditions without having to consult Supreme Allied Headquarters. In stark contrast, the inflexible command and control structure used by the German forces was a significant factor in their undoing; while the Allied commanders made local decisions and advanced, German forces were paralyzed by an inability to act.

Eisenhower was quoted as saying “Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” It is as true for business today as it was for the military then (and now). This lesson is observed in the training of modern American fighting forces: the most valuable trait - the one that is searched for and trained in military commanders above all others - is initiative. “Indecision is a virus that can run through an army and destroy its will to win or even to survive,” wrote Wendell Mayes. At higher levels, control is an illusion; strategy and coordination driven by mission and vision must govern. Trust is key to making this work: trust in local commanders and troops – or local managers and teams - to make decisions that incrementally move their effort toward the fulfillment of the mission.