LOOKING BACK TO MOVE AHEAD


what is the real problem, what really mat- ters to the end user.


In the case of strategic land power, the rap- idly changing nature of the asymmetrical threats faced in OEF and OIF provided unique challenges for the Army to address. Many of the long-term, lifesaving techni- cal achievements developed during those conflicts came from the Army laborato- ries and research centers that applied the method of first principles to look beyond the symptoms of the challenges into their fundamental elements.


ROOT CAUSES


More than a decade of conflict in OEF and OIF have highlighted the importance of identifying first principles in innovating new technologies. (U.S. Army photo)


LESSON ONE: IDENTIFY FIRST PRINCIPLES A significant lesson learned from the past decade of conflict is the importance of identifying the root causes behind the challenges—their first principles—in order to develop innovative technology solutions.


Tis importance of identifying first prin- ciples to enable innovation technology can be seen in Elon Musk’s recent and revo- lutionary commercial advances at SpaceX and Tesla. In a January 2015 Business Insider interview, Musk said, “I think it’s important to reason from first principles rather than by analogy. Te normal way we conduct our lives is we reason by anal- ogy. [With analogy] we are doing this because it’s like something else that was done, or it is like what other people are doing.


[With first principles] you boil


things down to the most fundamental truths … and then reason up from there.”


Instead of looking at what everyone else was doing, SpaceX used the first-principles approach—and questioned conventional wisdom—to determine what exactly a rocket needed for its material construc- tion. And in doing so, determined that it could build rockets at 2 percent of the cost of what everyone accepted as normal, a truly revolutionary innovation. SpaceX did this by focusing on creative, abductive thinking—looking for the most direct explanation—which promoted imagin- ing the possible. Tis point of view takes much more mental energy to develop from scratch and question historical prem- ises. Most typical organizations, including rocket manufacturers, develop technology based on inductive and deductive think- ing, which is tied to past evidence and logical extrapolation and results in small incremental improvements. With first- principle thinking, SpaceX was able to innovate in clear leaps by going back to the fundamental questions affecting space travel: what needs to be accomplished,


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Building on the demonstrated success of innovations such as airborne change detection, hyperspectral imaging and advanced ground-based radars, it is important for the Army to continue to apply resources and energy to the remain- ing strategic land power asymmetrical challenges, such as detecting explosive hazards in high clutter environments at much faster operational tempos to ensure future dominance and the safety of our warfighters. Doing so will continue to give the S&T community opportunities to provide effective and efficient materiel solutions with long-lasting effects.


LESSON 2: INJECT ORTHOGONAL THINKING One of the most important distinctions about innovation is that rather than sup- porting the


ability to “do something


better,” which is more akin to incremen- tal improvements, innovation focuses on


“doing something different.” Orthogonal thinking is a catalyst for innovation and occurs when a problem is approached from a completely new angle. Orthogonal thinking implies a fresh, new perspective often provided from those not involved with what would be considered the tradi- tional fields of study associated with the problem.


Army AL&T Magazine


April–June 2015


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