Everything we need to know about program management, we learned from punk rock

Defense AT&L, July-August, 2005 by Dan Ward, Chris Quaid

Get The Punk Outta Here

Not everyone can be a punk PM ... and not everyone should. The popular mainstream crowd doesn't have to like, respect, or even tolerate the punks in their midst. In fact, the world would be a pretty boring place if punk rock was the only genre around, and it wouldn't make much sense for every PM to go the pierced/shaved/tattooed route. Punk loses some of its edge when it goes mainstream, and even though neither side may readily acknowledge it, the antagonism between punk and pop is valuable to both sides.

So a certain amount of dynamic tension between punk PMs and pop PMs is probably healthy for everyone involved. A punk's under-the-radar, outsider status gives him (or her) credibility with certain outsider customers and users (SpecOps, anyone?), and a commitment to integrity ensures the job will get done. Inevitably, a few punks will cross over into the pop world, giving up their status as underdogs but injecting new perspectives and contagious energy into an arena that might otherwise be mired in copycat mediocrity. When that happens, everybody wins.

Rock on!

RELATED ARTICLE: Transcendental Passion

A Defense AT & L exclusive: the lyrics from Major Punks' not-to-be-released-anytime-soon underground hit Transcendental Passion

Cashman got it right
and the Clash, man, they did too
Jack said stick it to the man
and he's talkin' about you
CHORUS
  Punk's transcendental passion
  for genuine self expression
  is pushin' back oppression
  with more than just aggression
  Punk's got a deep obsession
  it's makin' no concession
  for posers tryin' to make themselves
  more 'portant than the mission
Ya gotta do it your way
and I gotta do it mine
ya got a brain so use it
don't just toe the comp'ny line
CHORUS
Linus Torvalds, Ghandi
And Martin Luther King
they led the masses, got it done
without an ounce of bling
CHORUS
Stiffen up your backbone
cut through all the clutter
wear some ink, grow your hair
watch the big man sputter
CHORUS
(Gratuitous drum solo)

Maj. Dan Ward, USAF * Maj. Chris Quaid, USAF

Quaid is assigned to the Technical Executive Office of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Bethesda, Md. Ward is assigned to the Air Force Research Lab in Rome, N.Y.

Quaid and Ward's band Major Punks plans to release its 10th album. Right after the stars compose record, and release the first nine. But first, they'll need to get some instruments. And write some actual songs. And get some tattoos. And learn three chords. In the meantime, they can be reached at their day jobs christopher.n.quaid@nga.mil and daniel.ward@rl.af.mil