SPL Forces

A little over a week ago, a received a surprising instant message from my boss. She asked if I would be ok to fly to Singapore by September 5. I did some quick computations and found out that I would be flying off to Singapore not one week upon my arrival from Pakistan!

After getting some quick information regarding the new assignment and giving it some thought, I said yes. Then it hit me... it's just like being in the Special Forces! (SF teams) I just realized some similaries between our company and the Special Forces. Naturally that put a big smile on my face.

Here's why:

1. Sheer Numbers
SF soldiers are highly specialized soldiers with the necessary skills and experience to be able to conduct various missions "downrange" (military term for being in the field). Recently our company has experienced a boom of sorts of projects from all over the globe, and are trying to allocate the proper personnel with the skills and experienced to be assigned to projects that require people on-site.

2. Maintain relationships
An SF soldier's job "downrange" is not just to provide support in terms of firepower, but also to aid in fostering the relationships with the locals and gain their support. And in the business world, this also holds true. Build a reputation of excellent customer service and your business will thrive on existing and numerous potential customers.

3. Mission variety
SF team missions vary from training governments to conducting military operations in enemy territory to peace time operations. As a software development company, our work also has a similar variety from product training to development to support.

4. Theaters
This one takes the cake in my opinion. During military operations (a war or conflict has arisen or even just during training exercises) the area of operations is termed as a "theater", with commanders controlling (or trying to) whatever happens in that area. Recently our company (well, at least in our office) has used the term to divide the areas of the globe in which we have clients. So we have the Americas theater, EMEA theater, and the APAC theater.

5. Location, location, location
SF soldiers have basically operated on all the continents of globe (except Antarctica) and to the most exotic places in the world. Over the past few years, our company has also sent people to a few locations around the world from various states in the US, Mexico, UK, Ireland, Holland, South Africa, Cyprus, Israel, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia.

So, I will be back in home base in a couple of days, do some briefings and administrative things to sort out for a couple of days. Then gear up for the redeployment soon after.