HOW TO EXCEL AT EFFECTS BASED PLANNING

A  one  page  guide  for  those  who  need  to  know,  but  don’t  have  7me  to  learn  

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DISRUPT

To cause an adversary to threat to have to temporarily stop hostile or potentially hostile acts

they are in the act of conducting.

a two minute primer [1 of 3]Effects-based Planning

What is it?

Effects-based planning is a useful technique for developing and resourcing plans derived from military thinking. The approach requires the planner to identify the broad effect being sought on a target or the wider environment rather than rushing straight to giving tasks to groups or individuals and creating infrastructure or additional expensive capability to fill a perceived gap.

Why is it useful?

The approach is useful because it encourages the efficient and cost-effective use of resources and improves the integration of then to achieve a wider, understood, effect. Within the context of risk reduction planning an effects-based approach encourages an integrated response with a range of assets and capabilities being able to contribute to the delivery of a shared effect.

What is the process?

Having spent some time identifying and agreeing the effects required a table should then be created with the effects down one side and a list of all assets, staff and capabilities that could possible achieve that effect across the top. The next stage is then to populate the table by considering which effects can be achieved by which assets. Frequently you will find some capabilities that are able to contribute to the majority of effects, some to one or two. More sophisticated approaches can be adopted to to weight to value of the contribution of each capability to each effect.

The final step, for this phase at least, is to highlight an initial list of resources that shou ld (no t can ) contribute to each effect. Remember, no one resource can or do everything. You will revisit this initial estimate later.

The first requirement is a need to develop, or share, a common vocabulary. Effects should be single verbs with a clear commonly understood meaning. Although many organisations attempt to apply an effects-based approach, most fail at this first hurdle. In many commercial circles verbs such as DETER, DETECT, DENY are used but alliteration is favoured over clear, shared meaning! There is no need to be too clever either, in the majority of commercial cases experience suggests that between four and six effect verbs will suffice. A couple of examples are set out below.

1 2 3

In the next seven questions one pager we will consider how these effects can be mapped to locations on the ground and over time to begin to produce the framework of a plan.

DISRUPT

To cause an adversary or t h r e a t t o h a v e t o temporarily stop hostile or potentially hostile acts that they are in the act of conducting.

DETECT

To receive credible and timely confirmation that a host i le , o r po tent ia l l y hostile, act has occurred.

INFLUENCE

To change the behaviour or decision making of a target in order to better support your own plan or needs.

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