The Conceptual Tangle of Contemporary Planning Doctrine
Abstract
The US Army is an institution with an affinity for planning. To stay ahead of emerging trends the organization strives for continual improvement to ensure practitioners have robust tools to plan in complicated and complex environments. This monograph reviews the historical lineage of Army Design Methodology, the Army's current conceptual planning model while considering the parallel explorations of effects-based operations and systemic operational design. The conceptual tangle over effects-based operations and systemic operational design initiated in the early 1990s. It was the military's response to planning in a complex world. By 2004, the conventional fight in Iraq morphed into an unconventional battle, and the Army was struggling to make sense of the situation. This campaign catalyzed for the Army to develop a conceptual logic model of its own that could bring understanding to the complex environment. The evolutionary product created was Army Design Methodology. It was a framework predicated on systems thinking, operational art, and the OODA Loop. This concept represented a distinct way of thinking that provided practitioners with a holistic tool that informed new approaches capable of influencing the new complex world.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 23, 2019
- Accession Number
- AD1137118
Entities
People
- James G. Jacobs
Organizations
- School of Advanced Military Studies