Come with me on a journey. Let's say your at your uncle's retirement party. Your Uncle Sean. He's worked at he same big company for 35 years and made it up above middle management, after starting in the mail room. He's worked with a lot of people over he years and made a lot of good friends. Plus your family is big, and rather close. It's a great occasion and in his honor everyone has come out for a dinner held at the banquet hall of a local classy hotel. All is well. About 3/4's of the way through the evening you learn that Uncle Sean's immediate boss has stopped in to pay his respects and see him off properly, with well wishes. They've worked together and around each other for the last 11 years or so. As word spreads of the unexpected presence of the boss, he gets cornered and asked to get on the microphone and say a few words. He's reluctant at first, but after a few passes shrugs his shoulders "Alright fine, if you all insist".
"Ya know, over the last few years, I've worked with my friend here, and it's been a real pleasure. He is a hard worker, a go-getter, a problem solver, and just an overall excellent person. It's been a privilege to be by his side, making this company better. What else can I say about old...Sam? My good buddy Sam."
You cringe, your Mom cringes, the grandkids are loudly asking "Who is Sam?" Uncle Sean is turning red, but doesn't want to be rude or cause a scene. He continues, "I remember this one time, Sam and I went up to Corporate together. What a time that was. Do you remember that one Sam? That's the kind of bonding that is the glue for this team." Now the adults are grumbling "Is this guy for real? Unbelievable."
Really embarrassing and just overall uncomfortable, right? The words "MDMP Process" give me the same feeling. The Military Decision Making Process (Process) seems to be one of the worst offenders for ingrained acronym failure. I don't know why, but I've had more instructors who will say "MDMP Process" repeatedly, and it makes my skin crawl.
We've entered the decision making process training portion of our time here. A lot of evaluators, the observer controllers/trainers, and even our leadership say it. My instructor at school said it 20 times a day, for a week straight.
The first time I hear it, you've lost credit, which is sad because I've seen and heard many of my respected superiors just throw it around like crazy. Please stop toying with my emotions. C'mon now.
That would make me want to punch people.
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