Military briefing slides on operational art and design methodology

C401T¶

Introduction to Operational Art and Design¶

Strategy¶

Tactics¶

Operational Art and Design¶

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Can design/systems thinking help solve the FBI’s current “wicked” problems?¶

www.drawtoast.com¶

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Operational Art and Design¶

Strategy¶

Tactics¶

Operational Art and Design¶

Leader/Commander¶

• Systems Perspective

• Operational Design

Produces¶

• Strategy¶

• Linear Planning Processes

• Operational Plans¶

• Orders¶

The interaction of operational art and operational design provides a bridge between strategy and tactics, linking national strategic aims to tactical combat and noncombat operations that must be executed to accomplish these aims.¶

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Systems Perspective¶

The leader must understand the series of complex, interconnected relationships at work within the operational environment. One way of developing solutions is to view these interrelated challenges from a systems perspective…to consider the relationship between all of the aspects of the system.¶

Here are some examples of systems analysis products used to understand the operational environment.¶

Notice that the systems analysis labeled “Afghanistan Stability/COIN Dynamics” was meant to be a design drawing for the internal use of the design team/staff. Design drawings, which could be on sketch paper, what boards, or on slides will only make sense to those that created it to help in understanding. It is not meant to serve as a presentation drawing (labeled Key Actors Relationships) that provides a level of simplicity and ease of understanding to someone who did not participate in the creation of the product.¶

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History of Operational Design (1 of 2)¶

• 1970’s – “Intellectual Renaissance” in military theory and planning requiring officers to “visualize” problems before the initiation of planning

• 1990’s – End of the “Cold War” and a dawn of new/more complex problems facing the military

• Mid-2000’s:

• Systemic Concept for Operational Design

• Army adopts concepts of design in FM 3-0 Operations

• 2006: DoD TRADOC Pamphlet 525-5-500 codifies Commander’s Appreciation and Campaign Design

• Command & General Staff College / School of Advanced Military Studies

• OIF Campaign: Gen. Mattis stressed planners needed to “design a broad approach to achieving objectives and accomplishing the mission; and to determine if, when, and how to change that approach when circumstances change.”

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History of Operational Design (2 of 2)¶

• Israeli Defense Forces

• 1990’s: Operational Theory Research Institute (ORTI)

• 2006: Shimon Navey (Director of ORTI) – Highly critical of the Israeli approach in the Yom Kippur War of 1973

• US Special Operational Command – Center for Special Operations

• Campaign Plan 7500

• Interagency Approach

• Horizon of the CT Challenge to the United States Government

• “Range Rider”

• “Global Forecasting”

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Operational Art and Design¶

Operational Art – Operational art is the application of intuition and creative imagination by commanders (leaders) and staffs. Supported by their skill, knowledge, experience, creativity, and judgment, commanders (leaders) seek to understand the OE, visualize and describe the desired end state, and employ assigned resources to achieve objectives. JP5-0, I-5¶

Operational Design – Operational design is the conception and construction of the framework that underpins a campaign or operation and its subsequent execution. JP 5-0, IV-2¶

Operational Design supports operational art with a framework and general methodology using elements of operational design for understanding the situation and the problem.¶

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Operational Design and JPP¶

• Operational Design provides the conceptual basis for structuring campaigns and operations.

• JPP provides a proven process to organize the work of the commander, staff, subordinate commanders, and other partners to develop plans…

• Operational Design and JPP are complementary elements of the overall planning process.

The iterative process between the CDR’s maturing operational approach and the development of the mission through JPP facilitates the continuing development of COAs and their refinement into eventual CONOPS…¶

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Operational Design Framework¶

Four Major Components:¶

1. Understand Strategic Guidance

2. Understand the Operational Environment

3. Define the Problem(s)

4. Operational Approach

JP 5-0, Fig. IV-3¶

The components have characteristics that exist outside of each other and are not necessarily sequential. However, an understanding of the OE and the problem(s) must be established prior to developing operational approaches.¶

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Design Methodology¶

Methodology includes:¶

1. Understand strategic direction and guidance

2. Understand the strategic environment (policies, diplomacy, politics)

3. Understand the operational environment

4. Define the problem

5. Identify assumptions needed to continue planning (both strategic and operational)

6. Develop options (the operational approach)

7. Identify decisions, decision points (external to the organization)

8. Refine the operational approach(es)

9. Develop planning guidance

Operational Design results in the commander’s operational approach, which broadly describes the actions the joint force needs to take to reach the end state.¶

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Elements of Operational Design¶

Where We Are¶

*CoG is developed as part of understanding the situation, but assists with identifying the problem & provides focus for developing the Operational Approach¶

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Strategic Guidance Principles¶

After Termination there is end state, objectives, effects and tasks. These are difficult topics so do not rush through it.¶

Note: Tasks are not a separate element (Why? I don’t know.)¶

Notice the nesting of the levels from national strategic to tactical in the box on the left. Note: our discussion is focused on the theater strategic and operational levels where joint forces operate, not the national strategic. Joint doctrine’s “elements of operational design reside” at these two levels. Effects and tasks are not used at the national strategic level and effects are not used at the tactical level. However, the Army at the tactical level could use the term ‘conditions’ in lieu of effects.¶

The box on the right defines the elements and their hierarchy. Notice that the end state is a set of conditions and should be described as conditions, that meet the termination criteria. Remember the termination criteria is approved and comes down from the national strategic level. Note: Some think that the end state should come first and that the termination criteria should be based on the end state conditions. This thinking is reasonable and true at the national strategic level, but represents misunderstanding of the operational level of war. Strategic guidance given to the joint force commander includes the strategic end state, objectives and termination criteria, from that the staff determines what conditions (the military end state) meets the termination criteria and the objectives/goals that would create those conditions. Know that an effect is a physical and/or behavioral state of a system that results from an action, a set of actions, or another effect. Therefore the effect is a description of how a system should behave when the objective is achieved. The behavior is observable and measurable and is used as a metric to determine if the objective had been met.¶

There are four primary considerations for writing a desired effect statement.¶

(a) Each desired effect should link directly to one or more objectives¶

(b) The effect should be measurable¶

(c) The statement should not specify ways and means for accomplishment¶

(d) The effect should be distinguishable from the objective it supports as a condition for success, not as another objective or a task.¶

condition for success, not as another objective or a task.¶

The following slides will discuss each element individually and include examples.¶

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Understand the Operational Environment (1 of 3)¶

Where are we?…Where do we want to go?¶

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Operational Environment Analytic Methods¶

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Figure IV-5. Holistic View of the Operational Environment¶

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Understand the Operational Environment (2 of 3)¶

Operational Environment is the composite of the conditions, circumstances, and influences that affect the employment of capabilities and bear on the decisions of the commander.¶

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Understand the Operational Environment (3 of 3)¶

The commander must be able to describe both the current state… and the desired end state to visualize an approach to solving the problem. In developing an understanding of the interactions and relationships of relevant actors…, commanders and staffs consider natural tendencies and potentials in their analysis.¶

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Define the Problem (1 of 2)¶

Where—conceptually—should we act to achieve our desired state?¶

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Defining the Problem (2 of 2)¶

Critical to defining the problem is determining what needs to be acted on to reconcile the differences between existing and desired conditions.¶

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Problem Statements¶

• Two forms:

• Interrogative

• Declarative

• Generally requires a “deeper” level of analysis

• Must encompass the true root of the organization’s challenge to drive the current state to the desired state

• Can use “METT-TC” {Mission, Enemy (Threat), Terrain, Troops (Personnel), Time, Civilian Considerations (Community)} analysis to assist with focusing the problem statement

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Defining the Problem¶

Problem Identification¶

o critical to United States

o critical to ally

o critical to the home country</td></tr><tr><td>• Insufficient resources to address them all</td></tr><tr><td>• Unclear relationship between the issues

o which issues, if left to fester, have more impact on others (even if not critical)

o which issues will go away if another is addressed</td></tr><tr><td>• Which are &quot;pet rocks&quot; and not really an issue</td></tr></table>