Comparing: Methods Scalability
The Art of War 5:1.1-6
This article is part of a project explaining the deeper meaning of Sun Tzu’s classic work on strategy. See this article for the first lines of The Art of War.)
The ideas discussed in this article begin Chapter 5 of The Art of War. This chapter is about the methods using force and momentum. The previous chapter was about using the mental model of positions. This chapter focuses on how we get the most out of our resources.
At this point, four chapters in, understanding depends more and more on the context of all that has come before. The book starts with the most basic strategic rules and moves toward the more complex ones. These first four lines are a review of the earlier context related to the topics of this chapter.
Management
In the previous article, we discussed that positions are simplified mental models for the complexities of people. When dealing with groups of people, we must manage them. Though all management is a little like herding cats, we must realize that this is not a problem with their numbers.
(In the quotations from The Art of War and the Ancient Chinese Revealed below, we summarize each Chinese character as a single English word shown in < > brackets. The Chinese is followed by a sentence from my English translation.)
<All> <govern> <crowd> <like> <govern> <few>
You control a large group the same as you control a few.
In this context, the word <govern> doesn’t mean “control” as much as “manage.” The fewest number of people that we manage is one. We start with ourselves. To get the most out of our lives, we must organize what must be done. What do we wish we managed better for ourselves? We want clear goals with ordered priorities. We want ideas about the steps to take next, but we also want the freedom to adapt the changes that occur and the discoveries we make. We want to be treated as individuals, not a cog in a machine. Most importantly, we want to feel rewarded when we are successful.
These are also what the “crowd” wants. Human nature is scalable. All people are different, but in many ways we are the same. However, we should also recognize that one of Sun Tzu’s main arguments about the strength of a force is that the size matters less than its focus and unity.
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This section also makes the point that our Methods must be scalable as well.
<Separate> <number> <correct> <also;>
You just divide their ranks correctly.
Individuals
While unity is what creates strength in a group, we cannot treat every part of the organization the same to create unity. We want people to truly understand the mission and its priorities. Every group and individual plays a different role in supporting that mission. We need to communicate to each in their own language, referencing their own skills and methods.
The <number> is important because, beyond a certain number, each group needs its own manager. Someone must it people as individuals within the group. Leading a small team, we know our team mates as individuals, but this isn’t true of large groups. As I said earlier, people are individuals, not our simplified models of them and not numbers. We may separate them and categorize them, but they need their own communication channels. This is the job of their managers.
The Contestants
<Fight> <crowd> <like> <fight> <few,>
You fight a large army the same as you fight a small one.
The topic changes here from all organizations to those we are vying with over resources. A <fight> is a battle over resources, something that Sun Tzu establishes in his second chapter. The point here is that all contests over resources are the same. The need for resources is never ends. Large organizations need resources, but small ones do as well. As individuals, we need some just to survive.
These contests are scalable. They follow the same rules and require similar strategies. We analyze our opponents and situations in comparable ways. Even when we are small, we can face larger opponents. This point is made in the third chapter of The Art of War. In that chapter, the topic is that every strength has a weakness, and every weakness a strength. This is discussed in this article about “Relative Size.’”
<Forms> <names> <correctly> <also;>
You only need the right position and communication.
The Chinese character <form> is the one we translate as “position.” There are no plurals or even any separation between nouns and verbs in ancient Chinese. The Chinese here introduces an important idea not shown in my translation. The idea of <names>. These are not only the names of individuals but those of the groups and their positions. The point, as made in the previous chapter, is that we must look at positions analytically with our left-brain so we can discuss them logically.
<Three> <army> <of> <crowd,>
You may meet a large enemy army.
In English translation, we ignore the <three> here. In this series of articles, I have explained such numbers as referring to the hexagrams of the I Ching. In these cases, a single specific hexagram, identified by this number, brings in too many ideas to translate.
Hexagram Three is called “Sprouting,” and “Trouble at the Start.” It is described, somewhat poetically, as “Water Over Thunder.” It advises that new advances should be carefully analyzed before we undertake them. When meeting a large opponent, we want to call upon the help of allies and trusted associates. Storms, that is, problems, may also be indicated here.
<Can> <cause> <must> <receive> <enemy> <and> <yet> <without> <defeat> <is,>
You must be able to sustain an enemy attack without being defeated
Our goal when meeting large opposition is simple: we must avoid defeat. These last lines reiterate the idea that we control our success or failure. This topic is covered in many articles, but more recently in this article on making winning easy in the previous We may have problems advancing, but with the help of friends and allies, we can survive it.