To Battle Groupthink, the Army Trains a Skeptics Corps
(U.S. News & World Report)…Anna Mulrine, may 26, 2008, pg.30
In the wake of chaos and a lethal insurgency in Iraq, blamed in no small part on poor decisions and a lack of planning at the highest levels, the U.S. Army has had a startling insight that is upending conventional thinking about how the military works. That epiphany is that the force needs fewer yes men.
… The program at Fort Leavenworth’s University of Foreign Military and Cultural Studies is more commonly known by its nickname, Red Team University.
Application of the Red Team concept can develop an awareness and understanding of variation. Everything varies. One measure of success is accurately predicting the gap between the actual and expected result.
For example, given all the variation inherent in a daily commuting process, how close can you predict your arrival time?
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