Many times, senior leaders tried to “help” the efforts by add- ing requirements, commenting on efforts or changing the implementation strategies. Each time, I, as the PM, referenced and shared the STRATCOM plan approved by the CSA and SecArmy. Te plan proved tremendously useful to avoid require- ments creep, budget cuts and schedule delays. Additionally, the STRATCOM plan was the only program document I had that contained a written “commander’s intent” clearly outlining the program vision and boundaries for me as a PM.


PMs can tailor a STRATCOM plan to their particular effort and use it as a “living” document to be updated when program “fact of life” changes necessitate it.


THE OLD AND THE NEW


Black socks are now authorized for wear with both the traditional gray IPFU and the new (black and gold) APFU, worn here by a U.S. Army Alaska formation participating in an Army Birthday Run in June 2015 on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska. The APFU resulted from Soldier feedback. A good STRATCOM plan kept stakeholders on target and helped to prevent requirements creep. (Photo by Alejandro Pena, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Public Affairs)


CONCLUSION I know: another document to write and staff … more oversight … less empowerment for the PM … more coordination. I under- stand and empathize. Te beauty here is that a STRATCOM plan is not required by statute or regulation. However, I highly recommend one for any program that has high visibility with Soldiers, senior leaders, Congress or the media, or any program that crosses MDA boundaries.


A FIXED REFERENCE POINT Recognizing the need for a document to help synchronize the APFU and camouflage implementation efforts, the program management office wrote a STRATCOM plan for each effort in early 2013. Although coordinating review and approval of these documents through the Army staff was painful, it ultimately paid big dividends as the programs were questioned by Soldiers, senior leaders, Congress and the media.


Te STRATCOM plans that we used had the following sections: intent, background, environment, risks, target audience (primary and secondary), vulnerabilities and mitigation, execution, public affairs guidance, points of contact and enclosures (top-level mes- sages, talking points, questions and answers, execution matrix, program support overview and information slides). Tis may seem like an overwhelmingly long document, but it certainly does not have to be. Te base document we used was four pages long and the enclosures were another 10 pages. Te program overview consisted of only seven slides describing the program.


Each document was signed and approved by the key stakehold- ers from the user community, the Army staff through the CSA, the acquisition chain of authority through the AAE, and the SecArmy.


You never know what external factors can derail programs, even those on schedule, within budget and meeting requirements. And right now, there is no program document that tells the pro- gram’s story—that synchronizes the program’s implementation and execution plan across the service and provides the com- mander’s intent succinctly—to serve as the program execution OPORD. Te objective of the defense acquisition system is to get a capability in the hands of warfighters, and a STRATCOM plan can help a PM and the service do that more effectively.


DR. ROBERT F. MORTLOCK, COL, USA (Ret.), managed defense systems development and acquisition efforts for the last 15 of his 27 years in the U.S. Army, culminating in his assignment as


the Project Manager for Soldier Protection and Individual


Equipment in PEO Soldier. He retired in September 2015 and is now a lecturer for defense acquisition and program management in the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. He holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, an MBA from Webster University, an M.S. in national resource strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and a B.S. in chemical engineering from Lehigh University.


ASC.ARMY.MIL


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COMMENTARY


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