Quote Originally Posted by Bill Jakola View Post
The new FM 5.0 is out; here is the link and forward: http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/FM50/

Commanders apply design to understand before entering the visualize, describe, direct, lead, and assess cycle. Einstein once said, “If I were given one hour to save the planet, I would spend 59 minutes defining the problem and one minute resolving it.” Combining design with the military decision making process provides Army leaders with a more comprehensive approach to problem solving under conditions of complexity and uncertainty. The mission narrative produced through design enables leaders to articulate the context in which they operate to both subordinates and superiors alike.

Bill Jakola
The more I think about Design, and its implications as it moves into broader use at multiple levels in the chain of command, I'm struck by the potential effects of having each level conducting Design. As you work your way down from a theater level to a battalion, let's say, guidance to subordinates will need to be clear enough to ensure that the subordinates Design is fully nested and supportive of the higher's purpose/intent. While on the face, this is no different from the current thinking behind mission orders, etc. Design strikes me as emphasizing higher guidance as merely a basis to start from and being less concretely directive as it has previously been interpreted.

Each level tends to seek to maximize success at its level. This is a general good. However, there are many instances where supporting or subordinate efforts cannot be allowed to "maximize" because it will hurt the overall mission. Here is where a subordinates Design must fully account for his mission in the perspective of his boss's mission. Once again, none of this is new, but the local emphasis of COIN tends to support solutions that may work locally, but cause problems in knitting together a larger solution (favoring one tribe in an area because they can provide security, but that creates larger political divisions in the province, etc.).
s/f
Phil Ridderhof
USMC