I think it was meant as a parallel; historically light cavalry (explorers) and heavy cavalry (exploiters) had different ideals*, different command structures, and when possible even used different breeds of horses.
Compare the sorts of teams that do prototyping and the sorts of teams that work to a Gantt chart.
* the ideal light cav trooper was jockey-sized, highly observant, and was already a good horseman before enlisting; the ideal heavy cav trooper was imposing, obedient, and was taught just enough horsemanship to carry out orders but not so much that he could go AWOL.
You could see the recon as the thinking from the article. The enemy and terrain are the code and various risks and effects associated with changing it.