(^116) 97 Things Every Project Manager Should Know
Speed Is Life;
More Is Better
Matt “Boom” Daniel
Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
“SPEED IS lIFE; MoRE IS BETTER” is a common rallying cry in the jet-fighter
community. Imagine the participants, and it is easy to hear, “Gotta go fast!”
Right? “Everything must be done with immense speed!” Right? “Get there
now, get away now!” Right?
There is no denying that in the daily flying life of fighter pilots, speed is a fun-
damental need. (Mav and Goose said so in the movie Top Gun, so it must be
true.)
But is it always true that speed is life and more is better?
In a classic one-on-one dogfight* engagement, it is a viable tactic to go very
slowly to minimize your turn radius. You turn in a circle with a smaller cir-
cumference, forcing your opponent to fly in a larger circle and end up in front
of your aircraft so you have a better firing position. You “live inside his circle.”
This is true control, as both aircraft are flying at the speed of a major league
fastball while executing this choreography.
Scientific studies prove the advantage of optimal, rather than excessive, speed
for specific moves, tactics, and delivery profiles. Optimal speed, not maximum
speed, is the goal. So, once specific needs or tactics are chosen, speed is only a
key metric. But more important is how you choose to use that energy (speed).
Venturing outside of the fighter-pilot world to that of business, does the first
company to launch a new technology always win? If the goal is to have a sur-
vivable, relevant product or service, then the answer is, at best, “maybe.”
- Dogfight: In aviation history, a dogfight is a style of wartime aerial combat where two opposing
forces engage in battles in the air. Emerging in World War I, dogfights between two planes were
exchanges of gunfire and accompanying avoidance maneuvers.