[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# Let's Do This: What Military Leaders Can Learn From 'Leeroy Jenkins!'

## Details

**Authors** Schwandt, Jamie

**Year** 2018

**Publisher** Task & Purpose (Best Defense column, edited by Tom Ricks)

**Kind of work** magazine

**Discipline** Military

**Secondary disciplines** Business & Management

**Kind of engagement** public

**Applied** false

[Read it](https://taskandpurpose.com/news/military-leader-leroy-jenkins/)

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

Maj. Jamie Schwandt, U.S. Army Reserve, uses the video-game character Leeroy Jenkins as a model of a "Chaotic Leader" who acts to probe uncertain situations, and asks what military leaders can learn from that style of decision-making.

### How they did it (methods)

An opinion essay that draws on the VUCA concept, the Cynefin framework, fuzzy-trace theory and Clausewitz's coup d'oeil to describe how leaders make sense of complex and chaotic environments.

### What they found (results)

Schwandt argues that leaders in chaotic situations must balance decisive action with sense-making, and names two methods for complex problems: "The Army Design Methodology (ADM) or Systems Thinking v2.0 (DSRP) are ways to solve complex problems."

## Commentary

### In short

An Army officer writing for a general military audience lists DSRP beside the Army Design Methodology as one of two tools for solving complex problems. Placing it next to the Army's own doctrinal method shows DSRP being treated as a working method for military problem-solving, alongside the established approach.

**Patterns it shows** D, S, R, P

**Added** 2026-10-10

**How to cite this** Schwandt, Jamie (2018). Let's Do This: What Military Leaders Can Learn From 'Leeroy Jenkins!'. Task & Purpose (Best Defense column, edited by Tom Ricks).