BONUS: From Combat Pilot to Scrum Master - How Military Leadership Transforms Agile Teams
In this bonus episode, we explore a fascinating career transition with Nate Amidon, a former Air Force combat pilot who now helps software teams embed military-grade leadership principles into their Agile practices. Nate shares how the high-stakes discipline of aviation translates directly into building high-performing development teams, and why veterans make exceptional Scrum Masters.
The Brief-Execute-Debrief Cycle: Aviation Meets Agile
"We would mission brief in the morning and make sure everyone was on the same page. Then we problem-solved our way through the day, debriefed after, and did it again. When I learned about what Agile was, I realized it's the exact same thing."
Nate's transition from flying C-17 cargo planes to working with Agile teams wasn't as jarring as you might expect. Flying missions that lasted 2-3 weeks with a crew of 5-7 people taught him the fundamentals of iterative work: daily alignment, continuous problem-solving, and regular reflection. The brief-execute-debrief cycle that every military pilot learns mirrors the sprint cadence that Agile teams follow. Time-boxing wasn't new to him either—when you're flying, you only have so much fuel, so deadlines aren't arbitrary constraints but physical realities that demand disciplined execution.
In this episode with Christian Boucousis, we also discuss the brief-execute-debrief cycle in detail.
In this segment, we also refer to Cynefin, and the classification of complexity.
Alignment: The Real Purpose Behind Ceremonies
"It's really important to make sure everyone understands why you're doing what you're doing. We don't brief, execute, debrief just because—we do it because we know that getting everybody on the same page is really important."
One of the most valuable insights Nate brings to his work with software teams is the understanding that Agile ceremonies aren't bureaucratic checkboxes—they're alignment mechanisms. The purpose of sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives is to ensure everyone knows the mission and can adapt when circumstances change. Interestingly, Nate notes that as teams become more high-performing, briefings get shorter and more succinct. The discipline remains, but the overhead decreases as shared context grows.
The Art of Knowing When to Interrupt
"There are times when you absolutely should not interrupt an engineer. Every shoulder tap is a 15-minute reset for them to get back into the game. But there are also times when you absolutely should shoulder tap them."
High-performing teams understand the delicate balance between deep work and necessary communication. Nate shares an aviation analogy: when loadmasters are loading complex cargo like tanks and helicopters, interrupting them with irrelevant updates would be counterproductive. But if you discover that cargo shouldn't be on the plane, that's absolutely worth the interruption. This judgment—knowing what matters enough to break flow—is something veterans develop through high-stakes experience. Building this awareness across a software team requires:
Understanding what everyone is working on
Knowing the bigger picture of the mission
Creating psychological safety so people feel comfortable speaking up
Developing shared context through daily stand-ups and retrospectives
Why Veterans Make Exceptional Scrum Masters
"I don't understand why every junior officer getting out of the military doesn't just get automatically hired as a Scrum Master. If you were to say what we want a Scrum Master to do, and what a junior military officer does—it's line for line."
Nate's company, Form100 Consulting, specifically hires former military officers and senior NCOs for Agile roles, often bringing them on without tech experience. The results consistently exceed expectations because veterans bring foundational leadership skills that are difficult to develop elsewhere: showing up on time, doing what you say you'll do, taking care of team members, seeing the forest through the trees. These intangible qualities—combined with the ability to stay calm, listen actively, and maintain integrity under pressure—make for exceptional servant leaders in the software development space.
The Onboarding Framework for Veterans
"When somebody joins, we have assigned everybody a wingman—a dedicated person that they check in with regularly to bounce ideas off, to ask questions."
Form100's approach to transitioning veterans into tech demonstrates the same principles they advocate for Agile teams. They screen carefully for the right personality fit, provide dedicated internal training on Agile methodologies and program management, and pair every new hire with a wingman. This military unit culture helps bridge the gap between active duty service and the private sector, addressing one of the biggest challenges: the expectation gap around leadership standards that exists between military and civilian organizations.
Extreme Ownership: Beyond Process Management
"To be a good Scrum Master, you have to take ownership of the team's execution. If the product requirements aren't good, it's a Scrum Master's job to help. If QA is the problem, take ownership. You should be the vessel and ownership of the entire process of value delivery."
One of Nate's core philosophies comes from Jocko Willink's Extreme Ownership. Too many Scrum Masters limit themselves to being "process people" who set meetings and run ceremonies. True servant leadership means owning everything that affects the team's ability to deliver value—even things technically outside your job description. When retrospectives devolve into listing external factors beyond the team's control, the extreme ownership mindset reframes the conversation: "Did we give the stakeholder the right information? Did they make a great decision based on bad information we provided?" This shift from blame to ownership drives genuine continuous improvement.
Building Feedback Loops in Complex Environments
"In the military, we talk about the OODA loop. Everything gets tighter, we get better—that's why we do the debrief."
Understanding whether you're operating in a complicated or complex domain (referencing the Cynefin framework) determines how tight your feedback loops need to be. In complex environments—where most software development lives—feedback loops aren't just for reacting to what happened; they're for probing and understanding what's changing. Sprint goals become essential because without knowing where you're headed, you can't detect when circumstances have shifted. The product owner role becomes critical as the voice connecting business priorities to team execution, ensuring the mission stays current even when priorities change mid-sprint.
Recommended Resources
Nate recommends the following books:
Team of Teams by General McChrystal
Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink
About Nate Amidon
Nate is a former Air Force combat pilot and founder of Form100 Consulting. He helps software teams embed leadership at the ground level, translating military principles into Agile practices. With a focus on alignment, accountability, and execution, Nate empowers organizations to lead from within and deliver real results in a dynamic tech landscape.
You can link with Nate Amidon on LinkedIn and learn more at Form100 Consulting.
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