david.doolin
Very short (22 page) thesis summarizing material also covered in Before The Quagmire. Provides a handy timeline for the events of the Fall of 1960, and a good reference list of original sources much of which is drawn from JCS archives.
I'm not a fan of points-based estimation, but if that's whats on the table, here's how to handle it.
Lamar Plain was conducted during Abram's tenure, which I'm reading about in “A Better War.” I'm curious whether that book will mention this operation, and how Abram's envisioned this operation in his One War program.
Read maybe 30%, skimmed most of the remaining, was not able to finish it in detail.
I suspect people who like this book will really, really like it, and people who don't, really won't.
My rating of 3 reflects my point of view coming from the engineering side. That is, I did not feel this book was overly helpful when I was working mostly as an individual contributor. I might well find a reread more useful being more on the management side.
This collection of writings provides a basic understanding of systems thinking, starting from first principles. It's referenced in a number of management and engineering books I've read, and references in blog posts are starting to appear more frequently.
One thing to understand about systems thinking is that it's really, really hard to get right in complex systems, and especially when people form an integral component of the system.
I've had this for ages, and find myself referring to it more and more often of late. It's really nice just getting the definition for a term without having to wade through 1. search results, then pointless discussion surrounded by advertising on typical web pages.
This was a NYT bestseller for a reason: it's an excellent account of how a short sequence of intense, bloody battles convinced both sides that they had won the battle, and had the keys to ultimate victory. In 1965.
Nice survey of thinking current to publication date. While the leading edge has moved on, the book provides an easy entry into service construction, and in many cases, that may be all that's needed.
Not always easy to follow the advice given in the book, company culture and process matter as well.
This book, and the philosophy driving, resonate well with me as I have already come to similar conclusions independently. One great benefit of the book is it's not longer necessary to attempt to persuade anyone of the efficacy of checklisting, just point them at the book.
Not currently in the audience for this at the moment; style did not resonate with me. Material seems good, will consider rereading in the future.
As usual with the author, there's intellectual gold in them thar hills, but it requires traversing a fair bit of terrain characterized by invective. Some of it is surely warranted, some assuredly not, but I don't know how to tell the difference.
