Team 2 Week 11 Blog

 

This week we focused on testing a potential MVP feature-set for the Special Forces, a path for realizing revenue in the education market, how we would build the product and completing a site visit.

 

Key Takeaways

• Testing the proposed MVP revealed there was still ambiguity regarding the secrecy level of certain data types and that the capability conferred by functionality enabled by that data may be highly valuable to Special Forces leadership.
• In exploring the potential for revenue in the education market, while we did not rule out any of the potential revenue sources. We also still need to find and identify the specific role for each of those channels who can make the purchase decision.
• On the build front, we confirmed the approachability of our designs from a technical standpoint and initial build costs would not be onerous for the base-level product. Still outstanding is clarity around on-going maintenance as well as how far down our potential roadmap the Special Forces would want to go and the economics of doing so.

 

Sean Talent Development Team Operations Manager/Fmr Operations Manager of a Charter school network

 

• Value proposition: You’ll want to be really clear about what the advantage of BulletTrain is for teachers and admin, because there are multiple. One side is budgeting, and then if you want the content of your training to be better, you can use our product to find better PDs. You could sell it in different ways: is it a great way to find PDs with a tracking benefit, or a great tracking program with side benefit of PDs, or both? You could go as far as you want to
• Having teachers rate and comment on PD will allow you to build a network, and get other teachers interacting with the clearinghouse.
• At first, it will be on the teachers and the principals to populate, and also people who are hosting PDs can post to BulletTrain. That’s where it becomes valuable to schools because rather than having the schools have to do the work, the training comes to them.
• It’s also an internal tracking tool—principals know what their teachers are trained in– beyond just a shopping service. Principals benefit in the same way that battalion commanders do.

 

Lee: Former HS Teacher

• You’ll need partner with a district, because they have the central PD calendar. They facilitate a lot of the PD, and a lot of state or professional PD won’t come to the area if the district didn’t bring them in.
• Schools and districts have strategic priorities for the year. If they’re contracting with partners for the year, it requires some careful planning. Whether a teacher could choose their own PD depends on the school and on how each school budgets, no matter if traditional or charter. If there are general funds allocated, then that could allow people to take advantage of it.
• It would also help for companies who do professional development to understand their competition, so they may be willing to pay for advertising.
• Teachers are incentivized by the fact that they have to get CECs. You give them a way to see if other teachers have been able to use a specific PD and see if they got credits for it.

 

Sergeant Richardson

• Operations Sergeant whose job is to interface with the battalion and group levels to resource support that the ODAs need such as extra medic oversight or vehicles with drivers to support a training exercise or actual deployments.
• In addition to support for training, they also regularly deploy in their support capacities.
• ODAs submit request for supply RFS and they send that up to get materials. Those requests can come in the form of a verbal conversation, email, or the actual RFS form. Regardless, when the request goes up the chain from the Operations Sergeant it is the formal RFS form.

 

Staff Sergeant Jake

• Rely heavily on their wealth of experience as both have been doing this job for 7 or more years. They know pretty much exactly what kind of medical personnel, drivers, special equipment the team is going to need for a big training event.
• Biggest concerns are not being able to track their requests. They have a weekly meeting where they may ask for a check in on for example their request for 6 humvees but usually the battalion just tells them that ‘they’re working on it.’ Or something to that effect. Only accountability is them asking the person who they asked who has to ask the person they asked etc. (potential for feature here).
• Don’t think that our system will be particularly helpful for them.
• Currently use DTT to track training concepts and there is a page of AARs for approval.

Analysis:

• If this fairly disorganized system is true, then battalion and group may not have much accountability for requests.
• Our system would be a natural place to initially identify an RFS need and send it up. It could then provide a cross-organization view of all requests, measure the impact of granting or denying the request, even compare the relative value of two different requests as measured by anticipated impact on readiness. These implications were not clear to the Sergeants. Is that due to lack of value? Inability of us to convey that value?

 

Maj Schubert

• Regarding what would be most powerful for him to show his superiors with regard to our product:
  • Overview of the training catalog and ability for the ODA to build a training program emphasizing the benefits to the ODA regarding time savings, access to better training alternatives, etc.
  • Then highlighting some of the management-level capabilities, ability to see colors of money, forecasting ammo and equipment needs.
  • Finally, depicting some of the secondary conferred benefits such as ability to measure the marginal utility of training dollars, deeper force analysis and potential identify the team/individuals that can be most-quickly pivoted to a new mission type.
• While posing potential product features it became obvious it is still unclear on the Army-side where the line is that would move our product from the unclassified network to the classified network. Just as importantly, the relative value of the difference in capability between those two product profiles is unclear.  This was illustrated when we outlined how the system could identify the team/individual that was closest to meeting a new METL profile. Turns out this problem is valuable to leadership and another outside team has been working it for a few years and is not nailing it.

 

Jovan Diaz

• Wind tunnel is really expensive, million dollar contract. Bought by USSASOC. Plays into highlighting an active vendor contract.
• Team’s use of the wind tunnel is built into the contract in such a way that it does not factor into the expense of the team’s specific training exercise.
• In addition to using the tunnel itself, they will bring in a profession skydiver with thousands of jumps to help train them in free-fall techniques and stability management.

 

FSgt Parks

• Arizona is used for Free-fall training. Have to use Arizona because it has 270 drop days a year compared to about 180 a year for north Carolina.

• Took us through the the mechanics of the jumping- i.e. 25,000 feet for MFF – calculating drop point to hit the target, etc.
• Now going to be standard for all special forces to get free fall MFF trained

 

CRT Sergeant

• Each company has a MFF team.  That team must rotate to Arizona once every training cycle and it takes a month.

• Allocated 50,000 dollars for that month but it usually only takes them 30,000.
• Not doing other training while they’re out there as they need to complete 25-30 jumps during that period.
• They have to work a variety of subtasks – work on free-fall technique, insertion calculations, formation management in air, use of oxygen at high altitude, etc.

 

Jumpmaster

• Took us through the on-the-ground training that each soldier completes before a free-fall jump.
• Fully rigged Mihir demonstrating and explaining all the connections and complete set of checks completed by the jumpmaster prior to clearing the jumper.
• Completed static line management while on plane. Clip routed over appropriate shoulder given side of plan you will exit and tucked into collar. Completed pre-jump sequence standing, clipping in, maintaining static line control and ripcord awareness.
• Initiated jump – maintain full arm length between next jumper – strongly exiting plane.

 

Yash Patil

• Contact lead for Duke Student Developer team.

• Cost of development of v1 of our application would be $1,000 – $1,500.
• It would be complete by June 1st. Earlier is possible but it would push the cost closer to $1,500.
• It would be built using React + Django + SQL. That would make it compatible with AWS.

 

Team 2 Week 10 Blog

 

This week our beneficiary discovery revolved around continued testing on users stemming from a more developed, more usable prototype. We also began talking to folks in the technology sector of the battalion and private sector who could help us understand the building and roll out of our program.

 

Key Takeaways

• We will be creating a web-app. This will likely cost in the thousands unless we are able to learn how to do it completely autonomously (unlikely). Major Schubert has suggested we speak with the applied physics lab at Hopkins. We are considering options.
• The prototype is well developed. With a few added capabilities, we are getting to the point where ODAs are excited and ready to try it out.
• If our product is valued at under $250k, it will be able to be acquired fairly quickly using group level funds.

 

1. Cpt. Mike D

• Having multiple data points for each training in the shopping cart is confusing and unnecessary
• Love the cost estimate worksheet editor
• For next prototype, it would be useful to have a CO/XO display screen where they could see what this program would provide for them. Hopefully battalion wide aggregated data.

 

2. Cpt. Kyle

• program should export to complete the METL crosswalk
• program will be helpful in constructing semi annual training brief, if we could focus on that it would be great
• Program must export to long range training calendar, this will make ODA commanders willing to use it and could actually be a selling point.

 

3. Eric, Duke OIT

• Sites are hosted through a Duke server. There are some restrictions if anything is Duke-branded.
• Building sites through a private contractor typically cost in the thousands.
• Sites@Duke is a service to look at

 

4. Ryan, Web Developer

• Dropdowns (using existing data rather than searching for patterns) will be a lot easier to make.
• Figure out where the code itself will be hosted—military? Duke? If it’s at Duke, make sure that it is compatible with their app development language.
• This would be pretty quick for me to write—maybe a week or two. For a private firm, that would be around $7,000, but if you use Duke’s staff programmers, it is likely to be much more affordable.

 

5. Bobby, Firefighter EMT

• The issue most people have is that what the national EMT registry and what county certifiers will accept don’t always match.
• There will really only be one database parameter: The national registry of EMTs or Paramedics
• If the “big boys”– the counties, national registry, etc. were able to streamline using this tool, it would benefit the EMTs.

 

6. SFC Gumpert

• SFC Gumpert has not been part of any of the interviews to date or part of the design session held at Bragg about a month ago.  The most recent video did not paint a full picture for a neophyte to our product concept.
• In discussing the wider vision for the product – specifically the team profile, he thought some people might be concerned about having their info on another database.
• He has a great framework for differentiating skills practice from the ability to best choose and deploy skills in real-world situations. The ideas are powerful but we struggled to figure out how to translate them to an implementation that could be objectively measured.

 

7. Tim Betts

• Confirmed the envisioned functionality requires a robust database. Therefore a non-SaaS product – a product Special Forces could administer themselves – would at the least require they have the hard and soft infrastructure to administer some form of database server.
• Confirmed that the data structure required access to properly scrubbed real world data to ensure proper database design and sufficient QA testing.
• Confirmed that we could certainly design a system the Special Forces teams could input the data into and create the interrelationships. However, then the testing burden falls to them.
• Basically, end result is that the best user experience is almost certainly a turnkey SaaS system. And whether we deliver a turnkey SaaS system or an on-premise system they customize themselves, there is going to need to be a dedicated team that possess expert database and programming skills as well as security clearance.

 

8. Captain Mike T – Procurement 1st SFC

• At the unit level below 250k can buy at unit level – with dollars that can reside at the group level or operations or maintenance. Takes roughly a month and strongly suggested

 

• Factors influencing whether SFC will buy
  • Requirement for the capability(needs to be validated by a general officer
  • ROI(if you can save x time, time is one of the most precious resources in military, free them to do more training instead of planning)
  • What applications in the deployed environment(how does this help ODA fight bad guys)

 

Suggested Procurement Process(right now is fairly on track)
– Deal with Major Schubert one of the senior managers in the battalion
– Get buy in from Ryan(controls resourcing for the department)
– Get buy in from S4 and comptroller(part of demonstration of saving resources)
– Buy in from ODA leaders
– Let Ryan progress and we support
– Get support from group commander and make sure he has money left in the budget

 

9. Major Ryan

• Applied physics lab at Johns Hopkins can help us see the project to completion IF we want to pursue that path
• Ryan was very impressed with the new prototype we were able to show him which was a more interactive training card that teams could use.
• Looks like much of our program can be implemented through NIPR, making it much easier to acquire and for us to maintain.
• Scheduled site visit for next Wednesday

Team 2 Week 9 Blog

 

This week our beneficiary discovered involved showing our prototype walkthrough video to our beneficiaries in 3rd group as well as other military personnel outside of 3rd group in the Army and Air Force.

 

Key takeaways

• Our program will save teams steps and time on researching historical data and developing the cost estimate worksheet
• The long range training calendar function is not particularly useful, but may need to be a part of any product
• Outside professions such as law that do not require very specific trainings will not find our program particularly useful

 

1. Major Paul – 82nd Regiment Operations Officer

• Normal on/off-site training is easy for the 82nd because they repeat training a lot. Hard part is managing ammunition for ranges
• Current process includes: Modifying numbers through analysis(Need to factor in # of targets, # number of people, hours of daylight, account for less ammo used with blanks due to jamming) – takes a long time to calculate(~500 man hours!)

• If these ranges had historical data and we made a calculator that factored in the correct things, this would make it a lot easier. Major Dunn wants to make the S4 position more data driven(forecast farther out and reduce surprises).

 

2. Captain Josh – S4

• Full procurement process is lengthy and may take 2-3 years. Involves requesting bids and then going through rigorous testing
• If under 10k or between 10-25k then they can use their SF issued credit cards to buy possible after the approval of the S6(comms)
• If it is over 25k and we serve a specific purpose and we have a DUNS number then they can potentially acquire the product through PRNC(fill out form and then money is wired to us after delivering product)

 

3. Major Tak (Sep.)- US Air Force IOS Intermediate Cyber Pipeline

• ”Tying into DTS automatically and pulling out real numbers, you can save hours and hours and hours.”
• The ability to tie into training plans and forecast future training needs will save weeks’ worth of time, and helps build a complete picture on the back end, and be very useful.
• In the Air Force, training for mature career fields is pretty cut-and-dried. For new fields like cyber, designing training from scratch was like playing darts in the dark— you don’t know if you hit the mark until later.

 

4. Lieutenant Mike – US Coast Guard Domestic Vessels Inspections Branch

• I get my funding for the year up front, $50 grand for all 12 members of my shop for training, property, and operations. Since I have a small team, I’ll know how much training I need to do depending on who’s coming in, and can budget accordingly. We get 2-3 new guys who cycle in per year. I’ve been in my position for long enough that I also know right away who needs what training within a few minutes of talking to them.
• If I ever have a shortfall, I can literally walk to talk to my superior, or go up to the district, and have a face-to-face conversation. If there isn’t money there, I can negotiate with other divisions. The whole process takes only a few hours.
• To be honest, this seems like a great program, but I don’t think it works for us, because scheduling/budgeting isn’t that hard with a unit as small as mine. If I had a unit of 70 people, I would like to use this.

 

5. Song (Civilian, Lawyer)

• 
  The bar treats CLEs as an honor system– it’s self-reporting with some auditing.
• “CLEs run $800-$1500 per course. Non-profits get CLE courses for free. If I didn’t get classes for free, or if I were a small one-person firm, it would change my calculus, and this tool would be useful.”
• When it comes time to fulfill requirements, it depends if you want to learn or just want to check the boxes. Some people will sign up for online classes and have them playing in the background while they do other work, just so they can complete it.

 

6. Major Ryan – Battalion XO

• Feedback on prototype video was very positive, people are really excited about creating a system that improves the training process by cutting down steps
• They would like to see a more refined search with filters. Filters would help ODAs choose certain locations and certain prices that fit their training and plan
• If our system goes on NIPR, then it will be relatively easy to get the product in the hands of ODA leaders for testing. It just needs to pass legal and IT and they should be fine
• There are workarounds to the full procurement process but it depends on the cost of the software and level of network access required

 

7. Chief Matlock

• Order of operations for populating training calendar: 1. Enter cycle start date and Deployment date. 2. Input dictated events – training holidays, dictated training events (big/group events). 3. Individual schools. 4. Collective METL events.
• 350-1 Manual lays out individual courses and recommended training for each role on the team.

 

8. Scott Frederick

• Starting from zero, getting to actual purchase will take 2-3 years.
• Standard route is to have sponsor put forth an initiative proposal outlining the reason for the investment in new technology.  That then advances to POM Submission (Program Objective Memorandum) which seeks investment money for the program in the next year’s budget.  It is then submitted to the Pentagon for consideration into the overall budget. Assuming it is included and funds allocated, it then goes to the Regional Contracting Officer who works with internal stakeholders to draw up the contract which includes deployment conditions.
• A non-standard route would be for already allocated funds to be diverted to fund your product.  This is most likely in the case of “must have” technology that provides a war fighting capability that is immediately in demand.

 

9. Capt. Barney

• Signals Commander part of HQ Support Group
• Biggest pain point is that PFCs come to his group straight from Advanced Individual Training and in all likelihood have zero exposure to the systems used in Special Forces. Ideally,  he would like to see the AIT curriculum expanded. (Note that Signals members do not go through standard Special Forces induction path.)
• The Signals group does not follow a deployment and training cycle like the ODAs.  Signals team members are tasked out to ODAs and become part of the ODA when the ODA requests support.
• There is not an existing tool or system for tracking the capabilities and training of the members of the Signals team.

 

10. Maj. Tadd (Army Rangers)

• I think that this system will be more effective for Special Forces/Special Operations type units because they manage training at a much lower level.  In the conventional Army, all of this is managed at the Battalion or Higher Level.
• Forecasting ammo is where the BulletTrain could be the most helpful. Units are terrible about recording how much ammo they used on any given range/event.
• Incorporating AAR into BulletTrain could actually take more time, since the AAR process isn’t going away, and it’s now another system you have to log into and upload something.

11. Cpt. Chris

• Longest part of training plan is finding hotels and rental cars, it gets expensive when you have a full team doing a week of training
• CEW worksheet editor would save a lot of time
• Ammo forecasting is necessary. It isn’t the most difficult part of the process right now but it could be almost fully populated by past data.