Burning Question: Which is a bigger threat to the military, bullets or bullet points?
The assault on PowerPoint continues, but the software has proven to be a tough foe.
Once again, military leaders are on the warpath against the presentation software that serves as the core of communications across not only the Defense Department, but the entire federal government.
"PowerPoint makes us stupid," Gen. James N. Mattis of the Marine Corps, the Joint Forces commander, said recently at a military conference, according to a New York Times report this week. Brig. Gen. H. R. McMaster, concurred, telling the paper that "some problems in the world are not bullet-izable."
This is not, of course, the first time that the brass has railed against "PowerPoint Rangers" in the ranks. But the anti-PowerPoint insurgents don't seem to be making a lot of headway. Whether it's strategy briefings for commanders or briefings for Defense Secretary Robert Gates, slides still rule the day.
It's been that way for years now. Back in 2004, Shane Harris wrote in Government Executive that PowerPoint was "ubiquitous throughout the federal bureaucracy." And the problem with that? "Clear-thinking, articulate people who use PowerPoint are transformed into muddied, monotonous speakers who shoehorn their thoughts into bullet points and anesthetize audiences with their slide shows."
UPDATE: The Atlantic Wire has a full rundown on the military's recent war on PowerPoint.
We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint
(New York Times)
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