ALL ABOUT U


three exceptional HSI programs, includ- ing a four-course certificate and a full HSI master’s degree, but enrollment is down. “Te reason this [HSI] program exists is due almost exclusively to the fact the Army wanted it,” he said. Tere was strong participation in the first two cohorts, but Shattuck said attendance declined steeply after that because of a lack of funding. “It wasn’t a lack of interest in the program, or issues with quality or anything like that. Every year, we hear from people who want to enroll, but their [organizations] don’t have money in the training budget to pay the tuition.”


Shattuck said that, whether practitioners are educated by NPS, Defense Acquisi- tion University or any other entity, the most important thing is for the Army to formally implement training standards for the profession. We need “some sort of certification that says, ‘Tis individual is qualified to do HSI,’ and right now, that doesn’t exist,” he said. “No one would hire a systems engineer to do systems


HSI is used widely throughout the Army acquisition enterprise, though it is now commonly called Soldier-centered design within the service.


engineering on a program with just a soci- ology degree. Tat doesn’t make sense. But we’re willing to hire HSI people that have an electrical engineering degree or some- thing like that. It doesn’t make them bad people, it just makes them the wrong person for that job.”


GETTING IT RIGHT Shattuck said he sees a clear path to success for HSI within DOD and it involves six specific focus areas: funding, staffing, policy, certification standards, career paths and training. “If you put those things together, you’d have an incredible, knowl- edgeable, trained, professional workforce


to really make a difference—whether you call it SCD or HSI—that would result in a much better product for the warfighter,” he said.


According to Shattuck, program manag- ers often do not set aside sufficient budgets to incorporate HSI into the acquisition process. “If the program manager doesn’t think that HSI or SCD is important enough, he or she doesn’t throw money at it, and therefore nothing gets done. Tere’s no forcing function to give money for an HSI practitioner.”


Tat results in a sort of funding-relevance death spiral for HSI professionals in the Army, he said. Without the money, they don’t have enough work, and without the work, they aren’t able to demonstrate their relevance to the program manager. “Te program manager needs to have a long view of the program. Tis program’s going to be around—in the case of a new Brad- ley fighting vehicle replacement or the new


WISE DECISION


A Soldier from the 101st Airborne Division checks his Nett Warrior device during a full mission test event at a Soldier touchpoint at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, in February 2021. Touchpoints are tremendously useful and wise, when it comes to building stuff for Soldiers, Maj. David Picard said. (Photo by Justin Sweet, PEO Soldier)


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Army AL&T Magazine


Summer 2021


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