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F.I.R.E.
Book

F.I.R.E.

How Fast, Inexpensive, Restrained, and Elegant Methods Ignite Innovation

Dan Ward
Dan Ward, 2014

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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Well Structured
  • Engaging

Recommendation

Project management pro and military technology expert Dan Ward spices up his informative writing with wonderful asides and management war stories. He writes in accordance with his principles: Ward’s prose is straightforward, clear, and without ornamentation. He advocates a simpler-is-better approach to all projects and urges managers to use less money, fewer people, and shorter time frames in pursuit of less complex goals. He spices up his informative writing with spark-plug references, including Star Trek, steampunk, Superman, the Death Star, the “Tonto, Frankenstein and Tarzan School of Public Speaking,” and more. Ward provides readable, commonsense, no-nonsense, counterintuitive project management principles for executives, managers, business owners, and students – and you will laugh as you learn.

Summary

Project restraints on personnel, money, time, and goals foster creative thinking and imaginative solutions.

In 1942, during World War II, Colonel Homer L. “Tex” Sanders, commander of the 51st Fighter Group of the US Army Air Corps, wrote his superior officer to request more P-51 Mustang fighter planes. Sanders explained that he and his fighter pilots loved the P-51 Mustang because it had “perfect handling qualities.” He stated that the P-51 outperformed all other US fighters in “speed, range, and maneuverability.” Sanders’s assessment was right. During World War II, P-51s flew 213,800 combat missions, and after World War II, US pilots flew them for 35 more years. During its long service, the P-51 proved that it was the “premier fighter of its age.”

Before they become operational, many aircraft require years of design and prototyping, plus the concentrated work and specialized expertise of thousands of engineers and other professionals. Modern aircraft often take decades to develop.

In contrast, a small team spent just a few months creating the P-51 prototype. Sanders admiringly described it as “an extremely simple” aircraft. “He liked...

About the Author

A low-cost innovation specialist, engineer Dan Ward is a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force. He plans and develops military equipment.

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