Thread: Afghanistan Generals Left Baffled By PowerPoint Slide

Originally Posted by S-2

You're always assigning homework to provide a foundation.

Fair enough. You work on that bathroom and the rest of us will get busy becoming amateur SMEs. Thanks for the detailed links. I'll look forward to your input down the road...

What's interesting about the EBO/SOD/alternative debate is that confirmation bias abounds - it's amazing how many people see different things from the exact same thing. People conflate EBO and SOD, and because of this, draw incorrect inferences from the Israeli use of EBO leading up to 2006 (and it's impacts on the outcome of the fight with Hizbollah).

As for the paper, I think FA Hayek best sums up my thought on design:

Quote by Friedrich von Hayek: "The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to..."

"The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design."

We're running close to thread de-railment but you've sent me googling. You may have already seen this but I haven't and will be adding it to my read list for this weekend-

Systemic Operational Design (SOD):
Gaining and Maintaining the Cognitive Initiative-Maj. Ketti C. Davison USA

"This monograph began as an investigation to determine if either Effects-Based Operations (EBO) or Systemic Operational Design (SOD) should replace the traditional Military Decision-Making Process (MDMP). It soon became clear that the approaches do not accomplish the same functions, are not applicable at the same levels, and are not mutually exclusive. The Military Decision-Making Process originated as a tactical decision-making process, and remains the most appropriate of the three approaches at that level. It deals with the physical threat on the ground with a decisiveness enabled by an organization of hierarchical authority. Effects-Based Operations is suitable only at the operational level. It takes the time to model the threat as a holistic system and contemplates the desired behavior changes various actions on that system would produce. It exceeds the physical realm of the tactical and explicitly translates strategic directives into tactical effects. Systemic Operational Design is a holistic approach that introduces the discrete element of design in order to inform planning. It is abstract and conceptual. It creates a cognitive map and continually updates it by the learning that occurs through action."

As for Israel/POG, you've long argued about the inability of Israel to translate strategic and operational imperatives into a coherant policy effected down on the deck. What you're offering may better help my understanding behind the rationales driving your perspective.

Colbert takes a swing at using the design chart:

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-col...--afghandyland

Originally Posted by Shek

Colbert takes a swing at using the design chart:

Obama's Nobel Prize Speech & Afghandyland | December 10, 2009 - Lara Logan | ColbertNation.com

Sadly right on the money.