While watching rerun's of HBO:s acclaimed miniseries Generation Kill it occured to le how shockingly easy it is to draw parallels between dysfunctional army management and modern day software engineering.
Further the way from action the decisions are made, worse they are and worse the outcome. In war you endanger lives of soldiers and civilians and unfortunate casualties include livelihood of locals and lives of children and women.
Junior soldiers carry out orders with sometimes disastrous results. Seniors know better and from time to time question orders, but are left with dilemma - carry them out or refuse and possibly face disciplinary actions. It's a decision they have to live with for the rest of their lives.
Software engineering is not much different, but the outcome is of course less dramatic. Bad decisions made without proper understanding of the situation at hand still lead to unwanted and sometimes catastrophic results. Only difference is that in software engineering casualties include motivation, professionalism, team spirit and in worst cases - careers.
