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Cormorants, Pelicans, Herons, and Ospreys Let Ideas Take Flight! HM and HSC Drive the Future of MCM C2
Cormorants, Pelicans, Herons, and Ospreys Let Ideas Take Flight! HM and HSC Drive the Future of MCM C2
By LT Eric “TOD” Mott, USN, HSCWSL
Buzzzzzz! Suddenly applause breaks out around the room. Like a moved audience having just been transported on a roller coaster of emotions, this curtain call has been one of many. But the clapping doesn’t last long. After all, there’s no star performer to applaud. Instead, this congress has been well trained, when the timer goes off, everyone claps. The show must go on, but there’s no stage, no spotlights, or marquees - only sharpies, sticky notes, and whiteboards. Welcome to TANG, or Tactical Advancements for the Next Generation. Hosted by Johns Hopkins Applied Research Laboratory, TANG is a three-day ideation workshop convened to solve some of the Navy’s most challenging problems. Sourcing participants from around the world, the goal of TANG is to harness the power of an interdisciplinary force of military and civilians alike, led by a passionate team of facilitators, including embedded artists, to tackle a challenge statement through a deliberate and well-orchestrated process that drives creativity, openness, and out of the box thinking, ultimately yielding concepts that can be further solidified for funding.
The challenge statement this time around: “How might we strengthen cohesion between the operator and developer communities in order to design improved user experiences (UX) for MCM C2 Users?” Difficult, sure, but not insurmountable. What makes such a statement intimidating is its vagueness. Most of us are creatures who thrive in certainty, but TANG is all about dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity. While there is indeed a script to follow from the buzzers which advance the day’s events, each evolution is more ad-libbing than anything else. On threat of expulsion from the workshop if you write with anything but sharpie, your tools are simply sharpies, sticky notes, and a pocket-size notebook - TANG is different, and for good reason. From the “crisp aloha” dress code to the timer driven applause, from the simple tools and background music playing whenever someone’s not speaking, everything is set up to take down barriers, open people’s minds, and let creativity take its course so as to not leave any ideas on the table. Put it on a sticky and put it on a whiteboard; the rules of engagement are that simple. TANG caters to the human element at play. Everyone has something to contribute, they just might not know it. But during this process, everyone has a seat at the table, and everyone gets to speak.
Split into multifaceted teams named after Lapwing class minesweepers, Teams Pelican, Heron, and Cormorant featured operators and tacticians from all corners of the MCM landscape, while Team Osprey featured MCM stakeholders including the overall sponsor of the workshop: PMS-495. From the MCMRON 7 Commodore, CAPT Antonio Hyde, down to one of the LCSRON 1 Minemen, MN2 Daniel Kern, TANG is set up to be chain of command agnostic.
As for AMCM, flyers included HM-15’s LT Jolie “Elsa” Slavens and AWS1 Nicholas Stevenson, HSC-23’s LCDR Mark “Elsa” Meyer, HSC-3’s AWS1 Patrick de Ferrari, and this author from HSCWSL. Through three full days of structured ideation exercises, concepts emerged that culminated in short skits for the stakeholders, akin to a frugal mix of "Shark Tank" and "Whose Line Is It Anyway." Shortly after the skits, all participants have a chance to engage with each other on each of the concepts and vote for best skit and best overall concept.
Without revealing too much, Team Pelican, featuring AWS1 Stevenson and this author, emerged top of the flock for overall concept, looking to harness the power of generative AI and a decentralized platform of community-sourced knowledge that not only connects developers with operators but connects the MCM Community at large. In this manner, we put the human weapon in the driver’s seat, and directly plugged the software used daily into the development cycle to train, fight, and win.
