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.

Just guessing/reading: it's a metaphor.

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.