SWAT teams, or expert teams as they're sometimes called, are a fairly recent phenomenon in the information systems world. They rose out of the need to effectively handle client/server projects. The basic idea is to attack development projects with a crack team of the best and brightest experts in the latest technology. A team is assembled with each project. The teams are small about five members or are made up of a series of small sub teams for a large project.
The idea to pool the talents of people with specialized skills developed because IS shops found that generalists, who can't possibly keep abreast of every technology, aren't suited to handle complex client/server projects. ``To do client/server well, [it] takes extraordinary knowledge and skills much more than the normal mainframe skills,'' says Doug Aldrich, the officer in charge of strategic information technology practice at A. T. Kearney, Inc., a consultancy in Chicago.
Following the theory that two heads are better than one, the team environment magnifies the creative power of individual experts, allowing them to craft better solutions as a group than they would individually.
As a response to increased urban violence in the early 1960s, police and sheriff departments began implementing military strategies against armed and barricaded suspects. Among the first to organize such a full-time tactical unit was the Los Angeles Police Department. Christened Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) by future LAPD Chief Daryl F. Gates, this elite group would revolutionize crisis management techniques worldwide.(Gabor,1992)
By late 1967, the anti-sniper group consisted of the department's 60 best marksmen. Even so, no LAPD money was allotted for special equipment. Officers were forced to become inventive, using individually modified rifles and jury-rigged ladders, mirrors, and other tools to suit the demands of the job.
SWAT's debut performance occurred on December.........
