EMERGENCY INSURGENCY
TWO LINES OF INQUIRY
“What the defense and intelligence com- munity need is separate systems for execution and innovation that operate in parallel, with permeable barriers that allow the easy exchange of people, ideas, problems, insights, and solutions,” New- ell wrote in a Dec. 14 op-ed for Defense One, in which he described an insur- gency of innovators doomed to failure without real support defense establishment.”
from the “greater
Under the current system, he wrote, con- tinuing the U.S. military’s technological superiority requires harnessing the work of “passionate, dedicated innovators who survive by skirting the bureaucracies that would grind them down.”
Te Army, Newell said, needs to find and train a generation of entrepre- neurs—people who are experts at moving the new ideas generated by innovators through the Army’s bureaucracy are criti- cal to its future success. “I was successful with REF because I became an expert at legally manipulating the DOD’s require- ments, acquisition, contracting
and
finance systems to get solutions deployed,” he said in a Jan. 10 interview with Army AL&T. “Te role I played as the ‘Army’s entrepreneur’ from 2010 to 2013 needs to
be recreated in every division and major command in the Army. Professional entrepreneurs in uniform will be the ones who build, maintain and discipline the innovation pipelines that Steve Blank and I have described previously.
“Let’s have an honest conversation about what innovation really is,” he said. “I think that the word is overused and com- pletely misunderstood across the national security space, across the government.
“Part of it is first recognizing that the enterprise system that we’ve built to very efficiently handle the national security budget … will never, ever, ever be well- suited for fostering innovation inside. It’s just not designed that way, nor should it be. Which really means we need to go after a separate
innovation ecosystem
and system to support that. It’s not that I’m asking for another stovepipe. I think we have to be very careful that there’s a permeable barrier between the two. Te innovation ecosystem is absolutely reli- ant on the ideas and the people and the problems that come from the enterprise, and they are absolutely responsible for delivering to the enterprise defense solu- tions, well-educated people and other things.”
Creating an innovation ecosystem is just one necessary step, Newell cautioned; the Army also needs to change the way it writes requirements.
“Fixing acquisition just means that we’ll just buy the wrong things faster if we don’t go after the requirements side,” he said. “… Instead of requirements, we need to be talking about problems.”
CHANGE STARTS AT THE TOP And a change in the way the Army attacks those problems needs to come from the top, Newell said.
“All of that is surrounded by a discussion on what is innovation leadership,” he said. “What does it look like at differ- ent levels? And what’s it going to take to create a professional military educa- tion system that teaches and empowers leaders to be innovative at whatever job or level they’re in? At the same time, it must provide an avenue for professional development for those who truly are professionals: Tey get it, they’re good at it, they’re the types of people that would do well in Silicon Valley.”
Newell added that at the individual and tactical levels, providing access to training on Lean methodologies and
BETTER, FASTER
Warfighters from the Air Force National Guard 129th Rescue Wing demonstrate casualty triage to students from a Hacking for Defense class at Stanford University in September. The students were part of a team sponsored by the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency and tasked with evaluating methods to reduce bottlenecks in casualty care triage using wearable sensors. To truly advance innovation, what’s needed are more innovators on the front lines, according to Newell. (U.S. Army photo)
28
Army AL&T Magazine
April-June 2018
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