PowerPoint: When bullets miss their targets
The issue:
- Ubiquitous Microsoft presentation software now a fixture of high-level military planning efforts. Junior officers spend hours distilling complex issues into PowerPoint. Top commanders skeptical, NYT reports.
- Pentagon = tip of iceberg. Military’s use of PowerPoint pales next to corporate America’s.
The case for PowerPoint:
- Radically simplifies decision-making.
- Offers ready alternative when elegant prose, hard numbers, clear thinking are in short supply.
- Ideal format for identifying “paradigm shifts,” “synergies,” “value-adds.’