p.41 commanders' decisions contain embedded hunches about the world and
about causes and effects... Causes and effects in human affairs are tangled, multi-causal, multi-directional, and
contingent.
p.42 The Army’s approach to Design provides commanders with
a way to think about the dynamic factors at play in a world of irregularities, surprises, and fleeting opportunities.
p.43 the Army’s approach to Design does nothing more than
give a bit of structure to those periodic conversations any commander has with his staff officers to improve his appreciation
of the mission.
p.44 The structure that Design imparts is straightforward. Design
merely asks the commander and his thinking partners to maintain and revise provisional answers to four questions.
These questions seem to be fundamental to any human action... The four questions follow. What is going on in the environment?
...What do we want the environment to look like? ...Where - conceptually - do we act to achieve our desired state? ... How
do we act and speak in order to achieve our desired state?
p.47 Thinking in terms of systems and subsystems also means
attempting to map the relationships between the various actors, institutions, and structures to discern tensions, flows, and
feedback loops. The intent is to focus less on specific cause-effect relationships within the environment
and more on how the multiplicity of factors combine to form a holistic, dynamic system. The system, just
like a human person, takes on a dynamic of its own that is not reducible to its individual parts. Moreover, the individual
parts take on their full significance only when seen within the context of the whole.
p.47 A model, within the context of Design, is a descriptive or causal account
from one perspective about what is going on in the environment.
p.48 Allow the "solution" to emerge over time from the context... Consider
taking actions to learn about the environment.
p.48 by thoughtfully focusing not on the plan but on tensions
within the environment, commanders... were able to... achieve an improved state of affairs
p.50 The practice of Design is optional. It provides a coherent structure
within which a commander and his staff can think about the environment, the problem, and the operational approach.
