.... from 24 years in the Air Force. It's a fact of life that the vast majority of pilots have big egos. The best fighter pilots also have the most monumental egos. I'm not sure whether the system has a tendency to select those egotistical individuals from the crop of pilot trainees for fighter training, or whether the fighter squadron environment makes them.

Regardless, it's also a fact of life that a fighter pilot who does not have an "I'm the best" attitude is also one with a limited life expectancy once he gets into combat.

With that said--my programming team would be a field general, a fighter pilot--maybe two, depending upon the task at hand--and the rest would be bench players. At least one of those bench players would be what was referred to earlier as an "assistant coach." I'll call him an alter ego.

Those who have enough gray hair would remember the concept--don't remember if it was Ed Yourdon or Larry Constantine who put it on paper--of the Chief Programmer/Team. Most teams tend to organize this way, if only informally.