I'm attending the Air Force IT Conference at Gunter Annex - Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery Alabama. We're here because our firm is a partner with a prime contractor on the NETCENTS 2 program. While walking the halls today I came across the Air University book store.
For anyone with an interest in Air Force history or modern strategy this is a gold mine. The books are all down loadable or can be mailed to you "free of charge." Well not really free in that sense, since you pay taxes, this is a way to get back some of that money.
I mentioned this for several reasons:
- There are authors on commercial project management sites that speak sometimes about the failing of government projects, the processes and tactics used during military operations. Some of these authors are missing information about the topic to which they speak.
- There are other authors that speak strongly against the way the government (US Government) manages programs. A few of these authors are also missing information and providing opinions devoid of facts.
I'm back in my hotel tonight with a stack of book:
- Sharing Success - Owning Failure: Preparing to Command in the Twenty-First Century Air Force, Col David L. Goldfein, USAF
- Expansion or Marginalization: How Effects- based Organization Could Determine the Future of Air Force Space Command, Edward B. "Mel" Tomme, PhD, Lt. Col. USAF (Ret)
- Engineering the Space Age: A Rocket Scientist Remembers," Robert V. Brulle, Lt. Col, USAF (Ret)
- Responsibility of Command: How UN and NATO Commanders Influenced Airpower over Bosnia, Col Mark Bucknam USAF
- Into the Unknown Together: The DOD, NASA, and Early Spaceflight, Col Mark Erickson, USAF.
and a little closer to home
- The Air War in Southeast Asia: Case Studies of Selected Campaigns (during the Vietnam War), Dr. Herman L. Gilster
The Point Of All This
The Air Force, like the Army, Navy, and Coast Guard, is a source of information about current and past activities. Many of these could be classified as "projects," with a beginning, middle, and end. A finite bounded set of work activities with a defined outcome.
One an author starts to speak about some topic related to military operations that seems a "bit off," these publishers can be a source of information beyond personal opinion or out of context opinion pages in the newspaper.
