Project Blue Lynx: an innovative approach to mentoring and networking

Defense AT&L, July-August, 2006 by Dan Ward

In February 2005, shortly after pinning on Major, I began conducting a somewhat low-profile experiment called Project Blue Lynx (PBL). The name is a play on words that refers to the "blue links" in a Web document. The objective was to foster the development of a networked cadre of innovative thought leaders. In this article, I'm throwing back the curtain and presenting the PBL methodology and some of the initial results in the hopes that others around the DoD may launch similar efforts.

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An Aptitude for Attitude

The first step was to recruit the PBL members, so I spent several months getting to know the company-grade officers in my part of the Air Force Research Lab. I wasn't looking for aptitude in the traditional sense; everyone around here is tremendously smart, so intelligence is not exactly a useful discriminator. Rather, I was seeking a particular attitude. To be specific, I was looking for something that was equal parts optimism, adventure-seeking, dissatisfaction with the status quo, and open mindedness. I was more interested in personal chemistry than professional credentials, and in the end I selected eight people: four lieutenants and four captains.

It wasn't easy to pick them--or rather, it wasn't easy to not pick some others. I would have liked to bring 20 people on board and could easily have built a team twice that size. However, keeping the team small, at least initially, was an important part of the atmosphere I wanted to establish.

I approached each candidate in person, quietly explaining the invitation to join a very small, more-than-slightly-subversive group. We were going to look for ways to do things better. We were going to question hidden institutional assumptions, and we were going to challenge the status quo. We were going to explore some unusual, potentially revolutionary ideas. In short, we were going to try to change the world for the better. Everyone said yes.

"There Will Be Homework ..."

Our hallway discussions were followed by a detailed e-mail that explained the group's operating principles (shown in the sidebar on the next page) and gave them their first assignment. "There will be homework," my note said, assigning Robert Coram's book Boyd and Col. James Burton's The Pentagon Wars as required reading. Readers who are familiar with those two books will begin to get a sense of PBL's flavor. I also provided a PDF document by Tom Peters, a few links to some online documents, and a list of eight other recommended books for their consideration. The list of recommended reading has grown wildly since that time.

The point was to expose the group to a wide range of perspectives and experiences and help lower their associative barriers as a means of stimulating innovative thought. The reading list includes a cyberpunk novel (Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson); a business biography from a former cartoonist at Hallmark Cards (Orbiting The Giant Hairball by Gordon MacKenzie); and an assortment of books about the information revolution with varying degrees of obscurity (The Hacker Ethic by Pekka Himanen, The Unfinished Revolution by Michael Dertouzous, and Just For Fun, by Linus Torvalds.)

In keeping with the informal nature of PBL, there was no due date for everyone to finish reading the two required books, much less the ever-growing list of recommended books. There was simply an expectation that everyone would read as many of them as possible, as soon as possible ... and almost without exception, they did. In fact, one enterprising member contacted the lab's technical library and arranged for the purchase of several copies of Boyd and The Pentagon Wars. I can assure you that every single copy the library purchased has been read at least once, and probably many times.

Technology, Networking, and Guerilla Marketing

PBL meetings are held at irregular intervals, usually every six to eight weeks. They last approximately 90 minutes, and are very informal. Discussion topics range from Col. John Boyd's life and work to Brazilian business leader Ricardo Semler's management principles. We examined the Simplicity Cycle long before it appeared in the the November-December 2005 issue of Defense AT & L--and in fact, that article contained a few ideas suggested by the group.

Over the past year, we have together wrestled with the Air Force Research Lab's approaches to technology transition, played with Web-based social networking tools, debated ways to effect culture change, and launched a guerilla marketing blitz for an in-house wiki project that we wanted to help support, even though technically none of us was actually working on that particular project. It's been a lot of fun, and we've all learned quite a bit. [A wiki is an online resource that allows users to add and edit content collectively. The word derives from Hawaiian wiki wiki meaning "quick."]

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Operation Verse

As one example of an unusual PBL activity, I once launched a surprise exercise code-named Operation Verse. When no one was looking, I delivered unmarked manila envelopes to the PBL members' offices. The assignment contained within was straightforward: Write a poem.