What's New at Operation Doubles Tennis

Many people use the terms strategy and tactics interchangeably. I don't, because tactics are but means of achieving the strategic objectives. The result of being fuzzy on the difference between strategy and tactics is usually tactics out of context -- that is, tactics out of the context of a strategy that orients them to aim at THE strategic objectives in a situation.

For example: What if you sent your army to a battlefield without generals (strategists) and just told them to win the fight? The tacticians (the captains) would do this and that. Some would attack a town or high ground just because it's there, even if it isn't a strategic objective in this particular battle. Some would steadfastly defend an unimportant position, taking heavy losses for nothing, instead of retreating and reinforcing another unit that is defending crucial ground. Perhaps nobody would secure a crucial bridge. In short, you can see that...

• some inappropriate tactics would be used
• some units' actions would foul up the actions of other units
• the objectives pursued wouldn't necessarily be the strategic ones.

Not the way to win.

A new lesson at Operation Doubles explains the difference between tactics and strategy:

Strategy is the science of art, as in "military craft." Nowadays, in other contexts, the word strategy is often loosely used as another word for tactics, but strategy and tactics are different.

Strategy is a systematic approach to winning by getting the upper hand, by tipping the balance in your team's favor. It's a game plan -- a way of playing. Strategy is holistic, its purview the big picture. In contrast, the scope of tactics is narrow. The purpose of tactics is to achieve the objectives designated by strategy. So, tactics flow from strategy like branches flow from the trunk of a tree.

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