When asked to name an organisation they admire I suppose most people working in technology might suggest a company like Google or Apple. As a history buff I’d like to look beyond that, and make the case for… the Royal Navy in the age of Nelson.
For almost 50 of the 75 years from the War of the Austrian Succession in 1740 to the downfall of Napoleon in 1815 Britain was at war with France, wrestling for commercial and imperial supremacy and battling the threat of invasion. As an island nation with only a tiny army success and security rested heavily on the performance of the navy, and the navy responded magnificently. A gallery of iconic admirals produced a string of towering victories, culminating in the crushing triumph at Trafalgar in 1805 architected by the greatest of them all, Admiral Lord Nelson.
How did they do it? First of all practice made perfect. Being in action for so long kept them sharp, and no British seaman in this period could avoid collecting a string of hard-won battle scars.
Then it was about people. By the standards of the time (and certainly compared to the army) the Navy was a ruthless meritocracy. Traditionally younger siblings or the sons of distressed gentlefolk, naval officers joined the service as young boys and had to earn promotion up the ladder. To receive a command they usually had to be good, and if they weren’t good they might well end up dead. The ordinary crewmen are often portrayed as press-ganged victims cowering under the lash, but in fact they were usually highly experienced seamen, treated well compared to those of other nations, and keenly motivated by the lure of prize money from captured enemy ships.
High competence led to success after success, and a culture emerged of confidence, aggression and elan. Napoleon ordered his admirals around as though sailing fleets were armies on land. Nelson knew the limits of control; before each of his great battles he made sure sure his captains knew his overall strategy and then let them get on with their jobs. “No captain can do very wrong who places his ship alongside that of an enemy” he told them, a reflection of his belief that in a straight fight any given British ship would always defeat any given French ship.
The results speak for themselves. Tellingly the only significant reverses suffered in this period were against the Americans in war of 1812, operating as they did according to similar lights. But in the long years of peace that followed Waterloo the edge was inevitably lost. Queen Victoria’s navy became synonymous with stiff-necked formality, leading ultimately to a famous peacetime disaster and even, in the opinion of some historians, some less than Nelsonic performances during WW1.
Okay, so what does this have to do with the modern world of software product development? For me the lessons of Nelson’s navy have universal application:
- Men make ships. Recruit and retain the best people you possibly can.
- Maintain morale. Demand the highest standards, and reward people for achieving them.
- Keep busy. Without the need to be regularly delivering end product, atrophy sets in.
- Manage appropriately. Set your team on the right course, then trust their professionalism.
“Never mind manoeuvres”, was one piece of advice Nelson gave to his subordinates, ”always go at ‘em”. A dictum that would not look at all out of place in the Agile manifesto.
Posted on February 7, 2011
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