I know from the interviews we've done (such as the Reid Pixler interview in the Mosul Case study) that military and civilian lawyers are playing a role in reconstructing legal systems, and in supporting local processes, but as I read JMM and Marc's discussion, I'm thinking of the requirement differently wrt development.

This does not just get into design, but back into the threads on SFA as an individually based capability and into the Plan, Train and Organize (particularly the Organize piece).

I know Marc's interests and areas of specialty from conversing over multiple beers - his interests are diverse for sure JMM has expressed a range of relevant knowledge on law - but what I really find intriguing is the ability to apply it to multiple area. I did not expect the Code of the Nesilim to show up, in fact I did not know there was such a thing, but it is precisely the kind of conversation and knowledge I think you want coming out of the design process.

The link back to the other threads is that the ability to get the most out of design has a great deal to do with the caliber and knowledge of the people involved, the breadth of their combined knowledge and the ability and strength of the leadership to fully employ it. I'm not saying every design team needs to be fully staffed with all Marcs and JMMs - it might be resource prohibitive, however having one or two on the team would seem a worthy investment. What might be a balance between effectiveness and efficiency would be able to assemble talent outside of the immediate organization to form design teams relevant to the conditions and objectives.

I might also add we still have trouble remembering the swivels work on our office chairs, and that we still have issues with parochialism - e.g. the not invented here, and/or outside threat effects. When we start to think that somehow a problem or a solution is only the purview of a staff section or small part of the organization we begin to suffer from self-constrained thinking. It would seem we could adopt a best practice from the SWJ SWC.

Best, Rob