Alex Kroman

In 1908 Frederick Taylor (years before publishing his famous book “The Principles of Scientific Management”) began studying workers at an arsenal in Watertown, Massachusetts.  

Frederick Taylor

Taylor was born in 1856 into an aristocratic family in Philadelphia.  After graduating from Philip Exeter Academy he rejected university and instead chose to apprentice in a machine shop.  Taylor believed in Isaac Newton’s idea of the clockwork universe.  In Newton’s mind the world was a giant clock that was wound up by god at the beginning of time.  As the clock ticked the universe unfolded in a predictable pattern according to the laws of physics.  If we could understand the design of the clock, we could understand and predict the future.  During his work as an engineer Taylor became convinced that he could replace the “rules of thumb” followed by most factory workers with a simple and repeatable processes that would always achieve the same result.  Once the process was in place and wound up it would run indefinitely like the clockwork universe.  In 1893 Taylor left the machine shop to become a consultant and on his way he stopped at the Watertown Arsenal.

Watertown Arsenal

Watertown Arsenal was built in 1816 to hold ordinance for the US Army and found itself at the center of a national scandal during the Civil War when the commander used government money to build himself a lavish mansion on the grounds.  After a congressional investigation he was exiled to an arsenal in a western frontier town but managed to build an even grander mansion just a few years later.

Slide Rules and Stop Watches

Frederick Taylor came to Watertown with a stop watch and slide rule to measure the way workers performed tasks on the factory floor.  Why was it taking a worker fifty-three minutes to make a gun when Taylor was certain it could be done in twenty-four?  He watched the workers and diagramed the way they moved about the floor.  He wrote up a report that described how the guns could be made in twenty-four minutes and hired managers who would stand on the floor with stopwatches making sure Taylor’s plans were carried out.

The Strike At Watertown

In 1911 the workers at Watertown arsenal went on strike and Taylor’s methods were heavily criticized across the country.  One of the workers wrote “This we believe to be the limit of our endurance.  It is humiliating to us, who have always tried to give the government the best that was in us.  This method is un-American”.  Taylor had designed the perfect system for making guns but the system was shutting down. 

The strike at Watertown turned into a congressional hearing on the practices that Taylor was starting to spread.  A few months later Taylor was brought in front of the committee to testify.  Taylor explained his science around shoveling coal to the chairman of the committee William Wilson. Taylor explained that “the ordinary pig-iron man is not suited for shoveling coal because he is too stupid.  But a first-class man who could lift a shovel weighing twenty one and a half pounds cold move a pile of coal lickety-split”.  Wilson responded “but what about the effects on a man who wasn’t first-class?”  Taylor replied that “Scientific management has no place for a bird that can sing and won’t sing”.  “We are not...”, the chairman responded, “dealing with horses nor singing birds, but we are dealing with men who are part of society and for whose benefit society is organized”.

A Ban on Stopwatches

Wilson’s committee declared that Taylor’s report on improving the Watertown Arsenal was biased and unscientific.  The committee barred scientific management to be used in government facilities and dismantled the system that Taylor put in place at Watertown Arsenal.  Taylor had created a system that increased productivity but ignored the people doing the work.  At Ford people were working so hard they couldn’t get out of bed the next day.   Hatred between managers and workers grew and frequent strikes began canceling out any productivity gains.  A few months later the House of Representatives created a law that banned the use of stopwatches in factories.

Despite these setbacks the idea of a perfectly repeatable clockwork universe resonated with the business world and Taylor’s ideas spread at the time the world was looking for a way to shift from a system of craft production to mass production.  Harvard created the first business school in 1908 and Taylor’s teachings set the curriculum for the next fifty years.  Despite events such as Watertown suggesting there must be a better way to manage people this new class of professional managers winded the clock and watched as it slowly ticked down.

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The armies of the late 1700’s would have looked familiar to Julius Caesar.  Thousands of men marching down roads in thin columns with hundreds of supply wagons following behind.  The wagons were unable to move across the muddy roads and often forced all the troops to stop and camp whenever the weather turned bad. Opposing armies lumbered slowly across the countryside until they eventually met at the field of battle.  The soldiers fanned out into lines that were two men deep with one line firing while the other reloaded. The supply wagons were positioned behind the attacking lines and shuttled food and ammunition up to the fighting and the wounded back to be cared for.

The tactics of war also remained unchanged since Roman times. Generals commanded the forces from the back of the battlefield with scouts in the front closely observing enemy movements. The scouts would carry information back to the generals, who would make decisions and send their orders back to the front.

These tactics led to long, drawn out battles with enormous casualties on both sides. Often the “victor” would be too demoralized to pursue the vanquished and both armies would retreat back to friendly territory.

The Siege of Toulon

Napoleon knew there had to be a better way to fight wars and to organize an army. He was born in Corsica -- the son of a minor aristocrat who served in the court of Louis XVI.  His family connections got him into several elite French military academies where he trained to become an artillery officer.

Napoleon came to power during the French revolution.  He was given command of a small battery of canons during the British siege of Toulon.  Napoleon was shot in the leg but still managed to use his limited force to capture a key hill allowing him to place canons that overlooked the entire city and forcing the British to evacuate.  After this victory he was given control of the French army in Italy.  He was only 24 years old.

A More Nimble Army

Napoleon started studying ways he could organize his army - how could he command such a large group of people but still retain the flexibility that he had with his smaller artillery units?  Steeped in the philosophy of the French revolution he took the controversial approach of radically decentralizing his command.  He broke the army up into smaller divisions of 20,000 men who were commanded by field marshals.  These marshals had nearly complete autonomy as long as they followed the strategic objectives outlined by Napoleon.  Napoleon replicated this decentralization into the rest of the division and allowed Lieutenants and Sergeants complete control over even smaller groups of men as long as their actions were aligned with the field marshal.

Using the Backpack

Napoleon also introduced a technical innovation into his army -- the backpack.  All of his soldiers carried 60 pounds packs that provided them with enough food and water for a week.  They also were taught to live off the land by hunting and foraging.  This decoupled the soldiers from the slow supply caravans and allowed them to remain independent for long periods of time.

Maneuver Warfare

With smaller forces that did not need to be connected to the supply lines Napoleon was able to invent a new kind of fighting -- maneuver warfare.  Instead of one combined force, Napoleon would send several small and decentralized units into battle that could rapidly respond to changing conditions.  These units did not have to wait for a long decision making loop with a general in the back of the field -- all decisions were made by the commanders in the unit who had the best perspective on the battle. Napoleon learned how to shorten his OODA loop and gain a huge advantage over his competitors.

Battle of Ulm

Napoleon used this shortened OODA loop at the Battle of Ulm.  Under the leadership of General Mack, the Austrian army was marching toward the city of Ulm over the only road that could support a caravan of troops in excess of 60,000 men.  Napoleon navigated his decentralized units around the advancing Austrian forces using narrow access roads and forest trails.  Napoleon was able to slot in behind the Austrians which effectively cut off their supply and communication lines.  Mack knew his men wouldn’t last long without supplies and reinforcements and surrendered the entire Austrian army before the fighting even began.

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