Ep 121 Design Thinking: The U.S. Army can teach you a lot about Design Thinking

Show notes

What’s going on, everybody? Welcome to the 121st episode of The Crazy One Podcast. As always, I’m your host, Stephen Gates, and this is the show where we talk about creativity, leadership, design, and everything else that helps empower creative people.

You can listen to all the shows, get the show notes—which are especially important for this episode—and a whole lot more over at thecrazyone.com. That’s “the crazy” and the number “one.”

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Where This All Started

For the past six months, I’ve been diving deep into a completely new perspective on design thinking—and what’s surprising is where it came from.

If you’ve followed this show for any amount of time, you know I love talking to people outside of design: chefs, tattoo artists, street artists—people who share the creative condition. But this inspiration came from a place I never expected: the U.S. government. More specifically, the U.S. Army.

Now, I’ve always thought of the government as being the source of things like million-dollar toilet seats and masterclasses in dysfunction. So how could they possibly offer a breakthrough in design thinking?

That’s what we’re going to explore in this episode. We’re going to look at the basics of the U.S. Army’s design methodology (ADM), how it differs from traditional design thinking, and what lessons we can all take from it—lessons that could dramatically impact your team and your work starting tomorrow.

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Personal Backstory

If you’ve listened to past episodes, you may know my dad was in the Army. He was a sentinel at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. You can hear more about that in Episode 108.

Since he passed about a year and a half ago, I’ve done a lot of research about him and became a legacy member of the Society of the Honor Guard. Through that, I started connecting with more people in the military—including a lieutenant colonel at Fort Bragg who is part of the School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS).

He started telling me about something called ADM—Army Design Methodology. I’ll be honest, just hearing “U.S. Army” and “design” in the same sentence kind of broke my brain. But the more I learned, the more fascinated I became. And the more I realized—this is something we in the creative industry could learn a lot from.

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Wait—The Army Uses Design Thinking?

Yes, the Army uses design thinking. They use it to solve everything from logistical challenges like fuel supply for tanks to massive operations like how to ensure every person in Afghanistan could vote.

These are life-and-death problems. And yet, they still prioritize a deliberate, reflective process. One that’s structured, thoughtful, and—dare I say it—better than most “design thinking” efforts I’ve seen in corporate settings.

They don’t even call themselves “designers.” Yet they’ve created a system that empowers better collaboration, faster clarity, and deeper problem-solving than many teams I’ve worked with.

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Setting the Stage

ADM was created by the U.S. Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies in partnership with the Army Research Institute for Behavioral and Social Sciences at Fort Leavenworth. It was introduced in March 2010 as part of the Army’s operations process (FM 5-0).

They brought in design not as a replacement for traditional military planning, but as a necessary evolution—because the complexity of modern warfare demanded new ways of thinking.

And yes, there’s a lot of military jargon and acronyms in this process. But for clarity, let’s make three mental swaps throughout this episode:

• “Commander” = Leader

• “Staff” = Team

• “Actors” = People affected by or involved in the process

 

Also, if you want to go deeper, I’ve included downloadable PDFs in the show notes with the original ADM materials—declassified, public, and extremely insightful.

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Why ADM?

The Army developed ADM because modern operations involve unpredictable combinations of geopolitical, social, cultural, and military factors. They needed a holistic methodology to help commanders and teams address problems that are dynamic, ambiguous, and constantly evolving.

ADM is built on the belief that understanding must precede action. It emphasizes system thinking, reframing, and continuous learning. And it doesn’t separate design from planning—it integrates them.

Unlike in many corporate environments where design thinking is constantly questioned, ADM is respected and supported. It’s not “if” it will be used—it’s “how.”

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The Three Phases of ADM

ADM is broken into three primary phases:

1. Framing the Environment

This step is unique to ADM. Before defining the problem, they first understand the current state and visualize the desired future state. They examine political, economic, social, informational, infrastructural, and physical variables. Then they map them visually and narratively.

This framing exercise sets the boundaries for problem-solving and helps the team align on a shared reality. They even simulate how the environment might evolve with or without intervention—so they can determine if the problem is worth solving at all.

2. Framing the Problem

This phase focuses on defining the problem within the context of the environment. The goal isn’t just identifying cause and effect but understanding relationships, dynamics, and systemic behaviors.

Importantly, ADM encourages constant reassessment. As new information emerges, the team is expected to revise and reframe the problem.

3. Framing the Solution

Finally, the team creates a broad operational approach. This includes the “commander’s intent”—a clearly articulated goal, the expected outcome, and an outline of acceptable risks.

They develop solutions with narratives and visuals. While ADM offers structure, it allows freedom here. Teams are encouraged to be flexible, but grounded in reality.

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Six Key Takeaways

Here are six critical lessons I took from ADM that apply far beyond the military:

1. Understand the Environment Before the Problem

This is rare in corporate teams. But environmental mapping creates alignment, clarity, and reveals root causes before jumping to solutions.

2. Keep the Team Small and Assign Roles Deliberately

Their core design team includes 6–9 people with specific roles like facilitator, visual recorder, devil’s advocate, and someone monitoring feasibility. It prevents chaos and speeds up results.

3. Distinguish Between Complicated and Complex Problems

Complicated = solvable with time.

Complex = evolving, dynamic, and unpredictable.

Misidentifying one for the other causes poor planning and failure.

4. Define Leadership Involvement Deliberately

Leaders choose one of three roles: fully involved, lightly involved, or periodically involved, and understand the risks of too much or too little involvement. That clarity improves outcomes.

5. Balance Awareness and Mastery

ADM provides different materials for leadership and practitioners. This acknowledges that not everyone needs to be a master, but everyone must understand the value and role of design.

6. Trust Is Built In

Unlike most companies, where trust is fragile or absent, trust is assumed in the Army. It’s foundational, and it allows the process to work without the overhead of internal politics or dysfunction.

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Final Thoughts

If you found this interesting, I encourage you to download the ADM materials from thecrazyone.com. You’ll get over 80 pages of deep, practical thinking from one of the most unexpected—but effective—sources of creative methodology.

The biggest lesson here? Inspiration can come from anywhere—even the U.S. Army. And when it comes to design thinking, the stakes don’t get much higher than life or death. If they can find value in a structured, reflective, human-centered approach—so can we.

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Thanks for listening. Please take a moment to leave a review—just hit the stars or write a few words. It really helps spread the word.

And yes, legal wants me to remind you: these are my personal opinions. They don’t represent any current or former employers.

But as always, thank you for your time. Time is the only true luxury we have, and I’m incredibly humbled you choose to spend some of it with me.

Let the Army inspire you. Stay curious. Stay open. And as always—stay crazy.

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