Some lessons from the animal world and German war strategy for product teams.

1. Agility
You Can’t Herd Cats, But They Will Hunt
Together
David Hurst

2. About Me
~15 years | ~12 products | Various roles
Name Gaurav Marwaha
Current Associated with Nucleus Software, having complete ownership of
new product development for loan origination product for banks/
NBFCs. Driving the technology teams to deliver an internally re-usable
product development framework.
Past Have successfully lead & contributed to multiple product teams in
different domains (GIS/ Health/ e-Governance)
Technology Java/ big-data/ analytics/ Spring/ ESB (Camel)/ Mobile/ Social
Product Conceptualization, Design, Development, Maintenance, EOL
Soft Team building, coaching, mentoring
LinkedIn http://in.linkedin.com/in/gauravmarwaha/

3. About Presentation
Goal oriented agility and teams
Animals
1
A look at the social structure of some hunting animals. Small groups of big cats and wolves hunt together
but they are different from dogs.
Mission Command
2
Lessons from the German war strategy called “Auftragstaktik”.
Product Development
3
The applicability to product development and lessons I learnt
somewhat related topics.
from two completely different but
References
4
References and links to pictures/ articles/ other material if used from Internet

4. Animals
1
A look at the social structure of some hunting animals. Small groups of big cats and wolves hunt together
but they are different from dogs.

5. •
About
Goal oriented agility and teams
Presentation
David Hurst: “You Can’t Herd Cats, But They Will
Hunt Together”
The key is to create a common goal which drives the team and then let the team
strategize to achieve the goal. Different from the standard command-control
structures.

6. •
About
Goal oriented agility and teams
Presentation
Wolves: stay in packs of 5 – 11, hunt together
The pack has an alpha male and it stays and hunts together. There is no
direction but a common goal to bring down a larger animal which no one wolf
can single handedly kill.

7. Lessons
TEAM SIZE
Small is good
Smaller teams are lean and more flexible to change they
understand their peers and develop a sense of social
bonding with a fair bit of healthy competition.
GOAL CLARITY
Crystal clear goals
Teams should have clear and concise definition of the
goals, focus on what has to be done rather than how.
Teams with clear goals will be able to find paths to achieve
them utilizing strengths of peers.
ROLES & TYPES
Product Lifecycles
Domestication of lions and wolves have not yielded good
results. Dogs and sheep flourish in presence of humans and
respond well to love and affection. The choice of teams will
vary on the goals being set.

8. Mission Command
2
Lessons from the German war strategy called “Auftragstaktik”.

9. Auftragstaktik
Mission type tactics/ Mission command
Führung durch Aufträge
An order shall contain everything that a commander cannot do by himself, but
nothing else.
History & Officer Selection
Focus on WHAT
Conceived by the german field marshal Von Moltke at a
time when the Prussian army was too disciplined and
highly centralized. Surrounded by hostile nations it
could not have imagined to win wars against all. Highly
rigorous training program for officers where selection
ratios were very low was developed.
Even the most junior officers were required to make far
reaching decisions. Sample: "Gentlemen, I demand that
your divisions completely cross the German borders,
completely cross the Belgian borders and completely
cross the River Meuse. I don't care how you do it, that's
completely up to you."
The Mechanics
Effectiveness
•The commander briefs his intent to two levels down
•Explains the rules and objective
•Allocates people & resources
•The subordinate understands the objectives & rules and
agrees to the contract. Can ask for more resources.
•The subordinate then decides on a plan to achieve the
objective.
Refer to the book by Jörg Muth (Command Culture)
and the analysis of the German army by USA it was
found that the key concepts of intiative, flexibility and
mobility were inculcated to German officers which
allowed them to meet challenges with changing
situations faster & better.

10. Product Development
3
The applicability to product development and lessons I learnt
somewhat related topics.
from two completely different but

11. Product Development
Why the similarity?
Time to market
1
Time to market is a key
measure of the success of
products
and
product
features.
Once envisaged a product/
feature has to reach the
customers at the right time
too early and too late both
have
proven
to
be
disastrous.
For faster time to market
we need agile, nimble and
flexible teams who can
produce more in an ever
changing environment.
Quiet similar to war and
hunts. Where time hunt/
attack plays critical role
Competition
2
Strategy
Enemy is too harsh a
synonym for competition
but quiet like war there is
cut throat competition in
the corporate world.
Just like war there is
tremendous amount of
strategy which goes into
product
conceptualization and
product development.
Especially so in products
where features can be
copied much more easily
eroding customer base to a
newer
better
implementation
of
a
feature by competition is
seen very often.
To stay ahead strategic
planning on roadmap and
timely delivery of roadmap
items is key.
3
Like a hunt/ war the
correct strategy and
business plan can help
companies
whereas
wrong ones can ruin.

12. Product Development
Correlations and concept applicability
Goals
1
Clear, concise and achievable goals
Teams
2
Small/
medium/
large
numbers define these?
what
Commander
3
What is the role of the commander?
No team can chase a running target which
they know has capacity to outpace them. Just
like animals on a hunt we set sight on the
target, form a plan to get to that milestone and
work to get there. If the milestone is hazy or
keeps shifting the team will get frustrated. The
capacity to deliver will come down.
Likewise shorter runs with well defined
milestones will give the teams breathing
space to re-group, plan and improve their
tactics.

13. Product Development
Correlations and concept applicability
Goals
1
Clear, concise and achievable goals
Teams
2
Small/
medium/
large
numbers define these?
what
Commander
3
What is the role of the commander?
The animals hunt in packs of 5 to 11. Scrum
practitioners advise teams of this size are a
good practice. I do not know if there is a
corelation but from past experience smaller
teams tend to gel well and stand up to each
other.
The key is to understand the strengths and
waknesses of the team members and play
them to best advantage of the group. Once on
a mission remember that the joy of
achievement of a successful mission heals/
numbs the wounds/ casualties incurred on the
way.

14. Product Development
Correlations and concept applicability
Goals
1
Clear, concise and achievable goals
Teams
2
Small/
medium/
large
numbers define these?
what
Commander
3
What is the role of the commander?
It may sound simple but the commander plays
a key role. The choice of the right leader is
key to the success of the team.
Animals can fight to choose the alpha-male/
leader of the pack but the same may not be
possible for product teams. The correct
selection criteria with a proven track record
can help.
Once in place the commander has to mentor,
educate and steer the team to the objective.
The closer the commander is to the real
warfront the easier it will be for him/ her to
infer and take sound decisions.

15. References
4
References and links to pictures/ articles/ other material if used from Internet

16. References
Attribution to blogs/ images and other links
Mission Command a blog post by David Kurst from 5th Drucker forum: http://www.davidkhurst.com/mission-command-a-paradoxicalphilosophy-whose-time-has-come/
Article on the German mission-control war strategy:
http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/09/09/an_elusive_command_philosophy_and_a_different_command_culture
Another post from David Hurst from 5th Drucker forum: http://www.davidkhurst.com/you-cant-herd-cats-but-they-will-hunt-together/
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auftragstaktik
Wolves hunting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Canis_lupus_pack_surrounding_Bison.jpg
Lionesses hunting: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hunting_lionesses_ngorongoro4.jpg

17. THANK YOU!
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