BUILDING CREDIBILITY
After completing extensive lab testing and in preparation for a very high-visibility network integration evaluation (NIE) demonstration event, the Warfighter Information Network – Tactical Incre- ment 1 Product Office set up a number of backyard test events with the Delaware Army National Guard’s 198th Expe- ditionary Signal Battalion and invited vendors along. Secure Wi-Fi for com- mand posts, tactical microwave radios, 4G tactical cellular infrastructure and other components were put through their paces. Te feedback from National Guard Soldiers helped the vendor tweak its prod- uct and helped the product office tweak the manuals and employment concepts. Overall, these backyard events were key to the products’ subsequent success at NIE.
START SMALL
The author, right, and a communications sergeant from 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division discuss updates to the Warfighter Information Network – Tactical Increment 1 during NIE 15.2 on Fort Bliss, Texas, in May 2015. A PM can improve the odds of success—and his credibility—by testing new systems on a smaller scale before taking part in larger, higher-profile demonstrations. (U.S. Army photo by Amy Walker, Program Executive Office for Command, Control and Communications – Tactical)
Are your users complaining about the size of the vehicle your system is mounted on? Ten change it. Is your system too com- plex for the average 19-year-old recruit? Ten do the no-kidding hard work of simplifying it. Are your users leaving your system in the conex, or shipping container, because it’s too big and bulky? Ten get innovative and shrink it. Is your material solution, or product, outdated, or maybe your users are buying something better off the shelf and turning your stuff in? Ten it’s time to change your material solution.
Tere are many structures in Army bureau- cracy that are meant to make change difficult, but it can be done. In the end, it’s better for the Soldier, for the taxpayer and for your credibility to make the hard right choice than the easy wrong choice.
90 Army AL&T Magazine July-September 2017
BACKYARD TESTING To be a credible PM, you have to pass your tests.
Seth Smith, a retired warrant officer, once said, “Don’t ever try anything in your front yard that you haven’t tried in your backyard twice.” In other words, to avoid unpleasant surprises in public demonstra- tions and record tests, be sure to vet a capability thoroughly. In general, if your product is made for Soldiers by a lab full of engineers, you can expect that it will not survive first contact with a unit of Soldiers. So it’s important to set up a number of informal events (backyard events) where Soldiers get to test the new capability before going to a record or otherwise high-visibility test event (front yard event).
Combat Soldiers, from standard infantry up to special forces, do not just roll up and start shooting at the enemy. Rather, they do rock, or rehearsal-of-concept, drills, rehearsals, and practice actions on the objective before taking direct action on an enemy objective. Treat your tests the same way; they are no-fail events. Fol- low the lead of the combat Soldiers and test before the test. Your users will thank you and your credibility will increase.
RISK=COST
It’s important to understand that risk equals cost. Failure to wring out risk before launch- ing a project will show in the costs. Why is that? Because unknowns have to be planned for, and unknowns are expen- sive. The more variables a contractor must build into a budget, the higher the overall cost will be. Risk increases cost exponentially.
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