Fire and Motion - Leadership Strategies - Joel on Software

I think he is slowly working out Boyd's OODA loop (Orient, Observe, Decide, Act) which says that a faster decision cycle in a competitive situation will allow you to outperform your competitor. Fire and Maneuver are two types of action, but I think he misses one of the key challenges most startups face: they are in a battle of maneuver. They have to substitute agility for mass in taking on more established competitors. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_Loop

Google Docs = Fire and Motion.

I don't think Google cares much whether or not Google Docs ever replaces most MS Office installations. But it forces Microsoft to respond and protect their core business, and not focus on competing with Google in the markets Google actually cares about.

Meanwhile, Microsoft disparately tries to get Yahoo, just to stay far behind Google in advertising, but maybe less far behind than they are now (see McDonald's trying to make Starbucks style coffee in the article).

Old but still very true