Joined up thinking (lack of) - not exclusive to the public sector

Business ideas and developments fascinate me. Military history fascinates me. So what has that got to do with ICT in Primary Education?

Maybe quite a lot.

In military terms, strategy is what you do before a battle. This was (in)famously carried out in the First World War by the senior officers sat too far back. Mesopotnia by Rudyard Kipling makes a good read on this subject.

A more powerful example of strategy was employed by Hannibal in the battles at Lake Trasimene and at Canae – Wikipedia has long articles on both. Basically Hannibal made use of information in a much better way than his Roman counterparts and organised, fought and won the battles on his terms. (if you’re covering Romans and have some year 6 G&T who want to do something exciting – these are worth a look).

Tactics are what you do during the battle. This is when the commander in the field has to take control and make decisions which hopefully win the battle and fit with the long term strategy of the powers that be.

So much for military – what about business?

Here’s a business most people can understand – most people reading this blog have cars. I used to work in the car industry, when we still had one.

Car companies became obsessed with a strategy of growth – ‘the business will grow by x% in the next z years’. To grow any business in the face of terrific competition AND a changing environment – keep reading – is challenging.

When I was a lad a family friend had a Vauxhall with 100,000 miles on the clock. This was such a feat that he received a ‘5 9s’ tie from Vauxhall. In a few months my current Peugeot is likely to be the 4th car I’ve had with over 100,000 miles. So – if cars are lasting longer, surely  a growth strategy is even tougher?

The strategy converts into the sales tactics and marketing activities you then enjoy at the local car dealers.

What lessons / ideas do these tales offer to ICT in education?

For more insights in how business thinking MUST transfer to education – see my other blog www.eolat.co.uk