To Design, or not to Design: An Introduction to a Six Article Series
Abstract
Are the Joint Operational Planning Process (JOPP) and the Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) unable to address the growing complexities of modern, ill-structured conflict? Does the U.S. Army's design methodology provide the military institution a more effective structure, format, vocabulary, and process that are understandable to the force and applicable? Many military professionals charge that design is just MDMP's mission analysis on steroids," while others claim design is merely "Effects Based Operations (EBO) by another name." By publishing the recent March 2010 edition of Field Manual FM5-0; The Operations Process with Chapter 3 entitled Design, the U.S. Army answers the former question with an affirmative.3 As to the latter, this six article series on "Army Design" proposes that by making too many compromises on design content, structure, and theoretical underpinnings, the military confuses the majority of the force on what design actually is, and how it works. Critics in both the pro-MDMP and pro-EBO factions continue to resist design methodology for precisely what the Army fails to deliver in the brief fifteen pages of design doctrine.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 04, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA546333
Entities
People
- Ben Zweibelson
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College