Microsoft's Powerpoint is stuffing up the US army's ability to
make sensible military decisions, according to a report in the Army Force's
Journal. (As if they ever had the ability to make sensible decisions.sub.ed.)
The article claims that the military use of Powerpoint was far
too extensive and was stuffing up the ability for officers to think. The
article, penned by T.X. Hammes said that PowerPoint was not a neutral tool
and was hostile to thoughtful decision-making. Unfortunately, he says, the
Pentagon has virtually made a cult of the PowerPoint
presentation. Powerpoint has fundamentally changed US culture by altering the
expectations of who makes decisions, what decisions they make and how
they make them.
In the days before Microsoft took over the world with
Powerpoint, the US military used to use two- or three-page summaries of key
issues. A decision-maker would read a paper, have time to think it over and
then convene a meeting with either the full staff or just the experts
involved to discuss the key points of the paper. However with a
Powerpoint demonstration a decision-maker sits through a 20-minute
PowerPoint presentation followed by five minutes of discussion and then is
expected to make a decision.
Time is wasted on which pictures to put on the
slides, how to build complex illustrations and what bullets should be
included. Bullets are not the same as complete sentences, which require
developing coherent thoughts. Instead of forcing officers to learn the art
of summarising complex issues into coherent arguments, the report
argues. The briefer does not have to think about his or her position clearly
and the people he is briefing do not get a full picture. Often the briefer
reads the slides aloud while his or her audience is trying to do the
same thing.
The report argues that people need time to think about, even
perhaps reread, material about complex issues. Instead, they are under
pressure to finish reading the slides before the boss apparently does. As
a result the quality of information that US Generals get when they are
making military decisions that could cost lives, has shrunk. It also limits
decision making to the highest level because the US generals think they can
make more decisions using Powerpoint because it is more efficient. In fact
many decisions that might have been made at a lower level, because of time
constraints, are now being dumped on higher level commanders because they
believe that Powerpoint gives them the time to make more decisions. The
report points out it would be better if some of those decisions would be
better made by people lower down the food chain.
Ironically the US military
excuse given for using PowerPoint so much is that senior leaders don’t have
time to be pre-briefed on all the decisions they make. However Hammes points
out that is because they are taking briefings that in the old days they
would not have touched. It is starting to look as if Microsoft's powerpoint
mentality could be harming the US's defence capaiblity.
More
here.