During World War 2, on June 6^th, 1944, the largest seaborne invasion took place on the beaches of Normandy. It was called D-Day. This operation took over a year of planning by the leaders of multiple countries and was critical in the Allies plan to regain a foothold on the European mainland and push back the Nazi army. 

In military warfare there was a famous saying; “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy”. This essentially means that no matter how much time you spend planning, you can never make a plan that covers everything. Mike Tyson had another way of putting it in regards to boxing; “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face”. 

So how is it that despite this, the Allies were able to execute and successfully complete the D-Day campaign? Alongside all battle plans, there was a “Commander’s Intent”. The Commander’s Intent for D-Day was: “To secure key bridges, road junctions and other locations in Normandy that would allow the ground invasion forces to advance inland.” 

So regardless of what happens to the plan when confronted with reality, the armed forced can fall back on the Commander’s Intent. It clearly explains the purpose and the goal of the mission. The why that will never become obsolete even if the original plan does. The Nazi Army were expecting an attack but were startled by the scale of it. There were pockets of chaos due to the lack of direction.

The Field Marshall in charge of defending this area was in Germany celebrating his wife’s birthday. And to make it even harder for them, 4 of the Nazi armies strongest tank divisions nearby were under exclusive control by Hitler. No one was allowed to order their movement except him. And where was Hitler? Asleep at his base in the Alps, and everyone there was too afraid to wake him up.

So these powerful tank divisions had no choice but to sit and wait and were unable to be utilised to protect against the Allied invasion. In contract, the Allied army were able to quickly respond to changes on the battlefield. By understanding the purpose and goal of the mission, the people on the ground are given the freedom to make decisions in the spirit of the Commander’s Intent and if there was a disruption to communication, no one was sitting idly by waiting for orders, they knew what needed to be done.

Ultimately, it promoted teamwork and incorporating new information into battlefield decisions effectively. The Commanders Intent also prevents the situation whereby following the plan becomes more important than meeting the objective of the plan. 

I use this approach both personally and professionally as method to achieve an outcome where uncertainty is likely to arise during execution of a plan.

From a personal stand-point; this could be as simple as setting an intention for the day on how I want to feel or what I would like to achieve. An example for any given day could be “to spend time in nature”. With this intention set, regardless of what happens in my day I can seek opportunities to fulfil this in anyway that is suitable such as going for a walk or reading in a park.

From a professional stand-point; I use this to manage my teams and it is specifically relevant when using an Agile methodology of management. In Agile we have what I see as an equivalent of the Commander’s Intent for each Sprint, which is the Sprint Goal. Like the Commander’s Intent, our Sprint Goal is our guide for what we as a team aim to achieve this Sprint. Such that if any roadblocks are hit, we all have enough information to work together and adjust to ensure we achieve our goal.  

The Sprint Goal itself, after the whole team reaches agreement on the goal, should be inflexible. The Commander’s Intent, or in our case the Sprint Goal, makes sure that:

• Meeting the objective is more important the following the plan
• If any roadblocks are hit, everybody has enough information to come up with a better plan
• Everybody has enough information to work together towards the same goal

Ultimately, the Commander’s Intent serves to provide a guide to make decisions in uncertain environments that will still allow progress towards a particular outcome. I will continue to use it to help guide me and my teams through uncertainty.