From Battlefield to Boardroom: Applying Theories of Clausewitz in Project Risk Management
(This article does contain Amazon affiliate links – Buying from these links gets me a small profit with no extra charge to you. These funds do help support the blog for our maintenance costs associated to the website and programs to keep it running. Thank you.)
As a veteran, I can say that the US Military plans are directly related to the PMBOK and project management. All you have to do is change some terminology, adjust how objectives are defined, and add project management software to shift the military mind into a Project Manager.
Even going back to the late 1700s/early 1800s, military leadership and theorists of the day were using concepts we use in our projects today. They didn’t have the technology, the worldwide reach, and the terminology we use today, but they were there.
In this article, we are going over one of the most popular military theorists, Carl von Clausewitz, and his book, On War. Clausewitz lived a life of war, observing it firsthand and later planning it as a high-level leader in the Prussian Army.
We will quickly examine some of his points and how they relate to project management work today.
Who is Carl von Clausewitz?
Carl von Clausewitz served as a Commanding General and military theorist for the Prussians in the late 1700s. He wrote the infamous book “On War” – a book on military strategy that is still taught to US Military Officers today.
Clausewitz served in combat throughout his time in the military, even serving as a “Prisoner of War” after a battle with Napoleon. He even served in the Imperial Russian Army after Prussia allied with Napoleon.
While with the Imperial Russian Army, he served again in multiple battles before integrating back into the Prussian Army. Eventually, the Prussians defeated Napoleon and, over time, became the Chief of Staff for the Prussian Army.
Clausewitz died in 1831 of cholera. His surviving wife is who went ahead and published all of his work that we have and go over today.
Clausewitz wrote his book while still serving in the Prussian Army. It was from his years of experience that he pulled together this information.
His writings in “On War” have stood the test of time while even being referenced in culture outside of the military. Today, I am referencing how his theories apply to Project Management and the planning methodologies we use as project managers.
The Fog of War
Clausewitz never used the term “fog of war” as we know it today. Instead, this term has developed over the years based on an excerpt from “On War”:
“War is the realm of uncertainty; three quarters of the factors on which action in war is based are wrapped in a fog of greater or lesser uncertainty” (On War, Book 1, Ch. 3).
This “Fog of War” describes the uncertainty during military operations, especially among leaders in the battle. They experience battle, but everything happens around them – they make decisions without knowing the full picture of what rages around them.
The Fog of War in Relation to Project Management
Project Risk Managers also work within the “Fog of Projects” in unpredictable situations. Clausewitz gives us a picture of military leaders making decisions without all the information – something we see project managers doing as well.
Both Project Risk Managers and military leaders work within the realm of uncertainty. When in Afghanistan, I didn’t know when driving down a road if it had the threat of IEDs, just like a project that doesn’t know when a risk trigger will strike their work.
Within projects, decisions must be made – sometimes without all the information and complete certainty on the future outcome. Same for military leaders making decisions in battle without the full picture of the situation.
Clausewitz says, “War is the realm of uncertainty”, but projects are as well. The Fog of Project Management could easily be considered a reality if Clausewitz had built strategic plans as a project risk manager today.
Adaptability to Unexpected Changes
Clausewitz on change in war:
“In war, more than anywhere else, things do not turn out as we expect. Nearby they do not appear as they did from a distance” (On War, Book 1, Ch. 1).
Things do not turn out the way we want them to in war. From afar, we think we will change an entire country, but 20+ years later – not much actually changed.
We have to adapt, though. Something the US Military has done well over the years – adapting to their environment and finding ways to accomplish the mission statement. War is unpredictable, resulting in the need to become adaptable to changing situations.
Project Adapt Through Change Management
In Project Management, we call this needing a change request. During our project’s progress, new information comes into view – meaning we need to change our scope, time, or costs to accommodate this new information.
Project teams require flexibility in their work. We utilize progressive elaboration to refine our plan as we move along the project lifecycle, but where we end up is not always where we thought we were when we started.
Just as combat requires changes as they adapt to new situations, so do project managers have a change management process to respond to unknown situations. Both have established processes adaptable to change, allowing them to move towards their objective.
Strategic Planning into Tactical Solutions
In Book 3, Chapter 11, Clausewitz says:
“The best strategy is always to be very strong; first in general, and then at the decisive point. . . . There is no higher and simpler law of strategy than that of keeping one’s forces concentrated.”
When the military goes through the strategic planning process, they start with “big arrows”. Then down at the tactical level, the decisive point, forces are concentrated to meet the mission demands.
The strategic leaders build out plans that tactical-level units execute through detailed planning. They find the decisive point that they believe the fight will take place and establish a plan to get there.
The tactical leaders then take those plans and develop the resources, contingency plans, and critical points. All in an effort to protect against the enemy and protect themselves.
This is the basis of military planning, returning to Clausewitz’s statement that strategy is strong in general and stronger at the decisive point.
Project Risk Managers Turning Plans into Action
When project managers start planning, they use high-level details – refining the plan as they reach specific milestones in the project life cycle.
These strategic plans develop into critical paths with key milestones slapped onto a large Gantt Chart. Resources are allocated per task, and contingency funds are set up to reduce issues.
All in an effort to protect themselves against any known unknown or unknown unknown risks. Allowing the project team to continue with the project goal of providing value.
Again, Clausewitz’s principle aligns with a project risk manager’s role – but what about leadership?
The Role of Leadership and Clausewitz in Project Risk Management
Clausewitz makes a statement on leadership in On War:
“The commander must decide how he will conduct the war, even before it begins” (Book 1, Ch. 1).
Before the Island Hopping Campaign of the Pacific in World War II or the Invasion of Iraq, strategic planning was carried out by the commander of the forces in those wars. They spent months determining how they would conduct the campaigns – focusing on the end objective.
Each of these plans fell into another Prussian General’’s quote: “No plan survivors first contact with the enemy” (Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke). As each started, they did not go 100% as planned – but their planning and training built-in resiliency, with the ability to fight the Fog of War.
Plans don’t always win wars, but they provide the forces fighting the information they need to make effective decisions during challenging times.
Clausewitz's Leadership Within The Project Planning Process
Clausewitz understood that the responsibility for planning fell on the leadership. Strategic planners might do much of the work, but leadership gives the guidance and direction to building the strategic plan.
This aligns to the planning process within project management. Project managers build the plan, but leadership and stakeholders give guidance and direction when building out how to reach the project objectives.
Project success is based on the project manager being able to lead the project team towards meeting the objectives, but leadership must also do their part. As mentioned in the book “Start With Why,” – leaders give the “Why” behind the planning while the planners develop the how.
For project risk managers, Clausewitz’s concepts help leadership build a clear project vision. Using this clear vision developed by the leadership allows the project team to navigate the Fog of Project Management. And find the right risks to respond to – clearing challenges throughout the project.
Lessons in Culmination
In Book 7, Clausewitz addresses the culmination point within a fight.
“If one were to go beyond that point, it would not merely be a useless effort which could not add to success.”
When in battle, military leaders keep an eye out for the culmination of their forces. Trying to move past this point without taking the moment to relax and refit only would lead to unnecessary loss of life. We generally called this a “Combat Pause” – taking some time to relax before getting back into the fight.
Burnout in Project Management
Today, we call this concept of culmination “burn-out,” and it is a significant problem within the world of project managers. Project managers live in a highly stressful, fast-paced work environment. This increases with the level of complexity of each project.
Clausewitz recognized burnout years ago. Seeing it within his troops after all his years of seeing fighting. He knew that if he pushed his troops any further, failure or event death would be at their door.
Project professionals must also watch out for burnout. We might need to implement “Combat Pauses” within our projects.
Taking the time to relax, refit, and recharge our minds and bodies might look on paper like it doesn’t meet the schedule. But without it, moving forward would be a “useless effort which could not add to success”.
Looks like Clausewitz understood and discussed burnout years before the term took precedence in 1974.
Clausewitz in Project Risk Management
Clausewitz was a phenomenal military strategist who wrote concepts that have lasted 200 years now. War after War, his writing play out. We didn’t touch on all of his writings, but focused on a few key concepts and their alignment to project management and project risk management:
-
The Fog of Way
-
Adaptability
-
Strategic Planning into Tactical Solutions
-
Leadership
-
Culmination Points
Clausewitz’s teaching and Strategic Risk Management fit hand in hand – where Clausewitz himself easily being a risk manager himself. His concepts align to how risk managers need to lead within projects.
Risk managers navigate the “Fog of Project Management”, ensure the project team can adapt to changing situations surrounding risks and issues, help the project manager turn strategic plans into tractor solutions, and provide leadership during the development of the project plan. And always watching out for burnout amongst the team.
Final Thoughts
Clausewitz’s book “On War” does not only need to be used by military theorists. The book serves itself as useful across industries. Project Management and Project Risk Management are two of those industries.
We, as project professionals, need to focus on personal development – and studying the theories of Clausewitz will only help develop your ability to make decisions and drive project execution.
The Risk Blog is reader supported – Please consider contributing to the operating costs of running this blog!
