We are indeed doomed
...and should he awake in the middle of the 4-hour night, BLACKBERRY!!!Originally Posted by Spud
Consider too: how many man-hours (I know, sexist) are wasted while X# people wait a half hour for the boss to finish a couple more hot emails (from his boss!!) before joining the group? I actually did have a private sit-down discussion with my boss on that topic once. Times five days a week X eternity it really adds up.
Greyhawk,
I agree with a lot of your points, but the article came across to me as a criticism of how powerpoint is used and not the program itself. As an intel guys who began with viewgraphs, MTF message traffic and thought "Harvard Graphics" was high-tech, I understand where you're coming from. Using the tool properly is key and I agree with pretty much everything the author says about its misuse.
I just remembered Tufte and his book on powerpoint. Here's an important excerpt.
This is no stuff...
War story. Decision brief to FORSCOM Cdr, three briefers. New high tech (then) computerized projector.. First briefer halfway through, black box breaks. Cdr says to the three COLS at the table, "No problem, you guys just talk me through it." Looks of stark panic. Much fumbling with paper copies of slides. Panic level increases when they realize they have their slides but no one else's while the Boss has all three sets. When the first one started talking, turned to call on his Briefer and El Commandante said "No, I want your thoughts on it." the panic was replaced by three looks of sheer terror. It sort of went downhill from there. Very entertaining for all us horse holders along the wall...
I'm not a T.X. Hammes fan but he's right on the money with that one, particularly on the decision levels broached -- as is Greyhawk with the perils of top level e-mail.
The frustrations of bureacracy....
Word. Talent not rankWar story. Decision brief to FORSCOM Cdr, three briefers. New high tech (then) computerized projector.. First briefer halfway through, black box breaks. Cdr says to the three COLS at the table, "No problem, you guys just talk me through it." Looks of stark panic. Much fumbling with paper copies of slides. Panic level increases when they realize they have their slides but no one else's while the Boss has all three sets. When the first one started talking, turned to call on his Briefer and El Commandante said "No, I want your thoughts on it." the panic was replaced by three looks of sheer terror. It sort of went downhill from there. Very entertaining for all us horse holders along the wall...
I'm not a T.X. Hammes fan but he's right on the money with that one, particularly on the decision levels broached -- as is Greyhawk with the perils of top level e-mail.
v/r
Mike
It's not in the style book, but...
Para two: "Make no mistake, PowerPoint is not a neutral tool — it is actively hostile to thoughtful decision-making. It has fundamentally changed our culture by altering the expectations of who makes decisions, what decisions they make and how they make them. While this may seem to be a sweeping generalization, I think a brief examination of the impact of PowerPoint will support this statement."
Then he goes on to explain its abuse and misuse, which - were it not for that initial polite caveat of a thesis statement - some might mistakenly interpret as an attack on those who are doing so. I suspect his point is as you say it is - his arguments clearly lead me to that conclusion - and that's a point with which we'd all agree (but with which many - or someone? - might be highly offended).
I don't think we need worry about an outright ban. The more likely solution is a PowerPoint in every inbox explaining the right and wrong uses of PowerPoint.
PowerPoint Memories
If I knew how to upload this as a text-only powerpoint slide, I would.
I once prepared a briefing consisting only of eight graphs, each on it's own slide. All were needed to present the information I had to (by commander's "request") convey. (I am a HUGE fan of brevity and briefing the commander was a daily job, not a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.)
Upon review it was declared "too long", a problem I was told could be easily fixed: present two graphs per slide. Took me 30 seconds to fix, eight slides became four (no, the length of the briefing did not change), and everyone was happy.
I'm glad I didn't start with four slides.
Ah but then you could have done the now-ubiquitous quad-slide and got away with a one-slide deck (oh hang on you'd need an extra one to give your name and a security classification and then another to ask whether there's any question's because you'd be incapable of doing wither of those things yourself.
The common acceptance of the quad-slide was that specific point in time that anthropologists will be able to say we hit PowerPoint stupidity
The Quad slide?
Bah - some bright young up-and-comer will soon make a name for himself for conceiving of the Ocho.
Very entertaining for all us horse holders along the wall...
Blood would flow from the bite marks on my inner cheeks that day. Thankfully we eventually discovered a device called an "E4" that sets such things to right in no time flat. Without one of those in your kit, you are doomed.
First of all everyone will have to wear--excuse me let me execute writing that in Power Point--it will be mandatory that while executing Power Point operations, all service members must display a reflective belt in order to prevent excessive exchange of original thought. SMs must also excute eye protective operations wearing approved darkened ballistic glasses or goggles in order to avoid displaying utter optical dismay as in confusion, terror, or tears...
Last edited by Tom Odom; 07-13-2009 at 08:35 AM.
Yeah, I noticed that and just saw it as a rhetorical vehicle to make his point and maybe grab a few more readers with the opening paragraphs.Para two: "Make no mistake, PowerPoint is not a neutral tool — it is actively hostile to thoughtful decision-making. It has fundamentally changed our culture by altering the expectations of who makes decisions, what decisions they make and how they make them. While this may seem to be a sweeping generalization, I think a brief examination of the impact of PowerPoint will support this statement."
Then he goes on to explain its abuse and misuse, which - were it not for that initial polite caveat of a thesis statement - some might mistakenly interpret as an attack on those who are doing so. I suspect his point is as you say it is - his arguments clearly lead me to that conclusion - and that's a point with which we'd all agree (but with which many - or someone? - might be highly offended).
I don't think we need worry about an outright ban. The more likely solution is a PowerPoint in every inbox explaining the right and wrong uses of PowerPoint.
Schmelap,
That's excellent, but what I really wanted is a decision brief on whether future decision briefs will continue to use Powerpoint XP or 2007. Also, I didn't like the color scheme or fonts - in the future please use a hot pink background with yellow lettering in comic sans to aid readability.Forgive the link to my own site, but I could not resist.
A PowerPoint Briefing About Why PowerPoint is Bad for Briefing
Don't forget multiple builds for dramatic effect leading to a decision!
I once had a young author tell me --after I had taken his PPT show and turned it into a coherent article--that "power point" was "his canvas" and that he could not "work" in mere Word.
Personally I believe CPOF and Google Earth have had similar effects on planning, assessments, and situational understanding but hey, I am a dinosaur. I still think one should be able to read a map and use a compass.
Tom
That reminds me of the GPS Nav system our family bought about six months ago. I've noticed it made me lazy and dumb about how to get to different places since I didn't have to think about it, just follow along like a lemming (kind of like how my cell phone has made me lazy about remembering phone numbers). Now I only use the GPS on road trips to estimate time-of-arrival and to find specific stores/restaurants in unfamiliar terrain.Don't forget multiple builds for dramatic effect leading to a decision!
I once had a young author tell me --after I had taken his PPT show and turned it into a coherent article--that "power point" was "his canvas" and that he could not "work" in mere Word.
Personally I believe CPOF and Google Earth have had similar effects on planning, assessments, and situational understanding but hey, I am a dinosaur. I still think one should be able to read a map and use a compass.
Tom
It's all been said but not everybody's said it
In the spirit of not repeating what has all been said, the one hammer statement is on point. However, I am seeing the other Office tools be used in similar fashion. Access Databases and Excel files are being created because we have failed to keep systems up with the enemies pace. Excel is being used for funding because we don't know how to make work compute formulas. Microsoft designed each tool for a purpose, and the DoD has taken each and whored it to the maximum extent possible.
The most important thing we could do is demonstrate to commanders how Office could work effectively, and then enforce it. Imagine - read aheads in Word, briefings in PowerPoint, and computations in Excel - Incredible.
Last edited by Jason Port; 07-13-2009 at 03:32 PM. Reason: typo in subject
"New knowledge is the most valuable commodity on earth. The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become."
- Kurt Vonnegut
No kidding! Down at the ROTC level I've seen our staff meeting explode from a 2 page agenda under a previous commander (and that was for a meeting held roughly every 2-3 weeks) to a 37(!) slide "presentation" for a WEEKLY meeting. Of those 37 slides, at least half are repeats of information presented on another slide (often the one right before). We're at the point now where we have almost one slide for each cadet in the program (.74 slides for each cadet). Some weeks more time gets spent updating those slides than is spent planning or executing programs for the cadets....
What we've seen is a tool morphing into a process. Ppt no longer supports decisions in some cases, it BECOMES the decision as folks opt for the flashier presentation over actual content and substance. Then it turns into a game of who can cram the most bells and whistles into a ppt slide as opposed to using the slide to support actual discussion and comment. God forbid anyone actually thinks when the lights go down and the slides flash on the screen....
Last edited by Steve Blair; 07-13-2009 at 02:42 PM. Reason: added stuff...
"On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War
Yes!
I have seen METLs done in Excel
A sure indicator that the METL process has overtaken the reality of what it's supposed to do. GEN Chiarelli's article told folks but my suspicion is that Excel will continue to be used.
That's just wrong. No unit needs that much specificity...
That has been pushed to next quarter. You didn't get the slides showing the changes to the long-range calendar?
Another war story
I hate to add to the war stories, but since we're sharing...
Every week I had to update a set of PP slides which included, among other things, color-coding our relationship with our supported command (?!). I don't know, sir, but I think we're "Green" on pointless.
"The status quo is not sustainable. All of DoD needs to be placed in a large bag and thoroughly shaken. Bureaucracy and micromanagement kill."
-- Ken White
"With a plan this complex, nothing can go wrong." -- Schmedlap
"We are unlikely to usefully replicate the insights those unencumbered by a military staff college education might actually have." -- William F. Owen
Trees Falling in a Digital World; Communications Incommunicado
One other curiosity is the need to print read ahead and table slides for the group. I might understand read ahead slides if there was something to read and I especially love the use of embedded video and sound to make the main point--that really jumps out of a paper slide.
As for table slides, the big guns get full color single frame; the lesser lights get double slides as an eye test. The non-players of course have to look at the damn screen--which is what everyone is supposed to do.
The tragedy in this is that it is killing written communications skills in the military and that in turn is killing verbal skills. I hear and see mission statements that are so garbled and jumbled with gerunds, passive voice, and useless helpers such as IOT (in order to --which means "to" and should be used sparingly for emphasis) that the actual mission gets lost.
A mission statement in passive voice with no "by whom"...from SAMS grads!
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