Army Design Methodology

US military achieved varied to questionable results in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Unfortunately, the complex adaptive nature of the operational environment and a dependence on medium structure problem framing prevented US policymakers and military leaders from observing and adjusting to the emergence of new conditions. The Army Design Methodology (ADM) is the US Army's response to complicated problems in an adaptive environment. What makes ADM such a valuable tool in preventing mission failure is the key concept of collaboration and dialogue. To understand why ADM is imperative to military planning, potential users must understand how impacts ill-structured problems have on planning and execution, examine the influence ADM can have

The continuous mix of conceptual and detailed planning gives military professionals a critical capability to promote shared understanding and avoid cognitive planning traps, patterns of thought that prevent military professionals from identifying critical relationships in their environment. ADM and integrated planning help to create adaptive solutions by focusing on the key elements of an ill-structured problem: what the structure of the ill-problem is and what the starting hypothesis should be. While there are no directed steps in ADM, the recommended method is to use an iterative blend of framing the operational environment, the problem, and solutions using key concepts such as operational art, critical and creative thinking, collaboration, and dialogue, systems thinking, visual modeling, and narrative construction. However, it is not the steps that are important, but rather the cognitive

The first is to select the right planners for conceptual planning. While everyone in an organization plays a vital role, ADM benefits having experienced team members who deal with uncertainty as a function of their roles and responsibilities. As Mary Jo Hatch mentions in Organizational Theory, those who deal with uncertainty are better suited to deal with ill-structured problems. Success in dealing with uncertainty implies those members understand how to take preventive steps to avoid failure, forecast future needs for probable changes, and implement absorption measures to adopt new values. These critical capabilities can benefit a planning