When I worked with the Air Force as their UX Designer, I had the incredible opportunity to visit the ops floor at Nellis AFB and gain a deeper understanding of the complex world of battlefield management. I can’t divulge too much due to the sensitive nature of the topic. Although our development effort and project were unclassified, access to the ops floor is restricted to TS personnel only. My team and I were given the task of finding solutions to some challenging issues that were being faced by the various ops teams.
After a not-so-thorough assessment, our team ended up just creating an upgraded version of OneChat, which, as it turned out, didn’t quite hit the mark. It wasn’t until December of 2021 that I had an epiphany and realized what we should have been building to solve the Air Force’s problem. Sadly, by that point, the project was already nearing its end.
Feeling frustrated and itching to build something, I decided to create the “Formula 1 Strategic Forecasting System Concept” or “SFS” for short. I created it for a coursework thesis in a UX class. Of course, nobody (in the class) knew that my F1 SFS concept has real-world combat parallels. This system could solve a similar problem that the Ops Team at the Air Force face:
“How do we ensure and secure victory?”
(sounds redundant but it’s snappy and dramatic.)
Formula 1 success is multifaceted and may include many factors such as tyre status, fuel, weather conditions, pit stop timing, interpretations of performance graphs, team, and driver’s mental state, and even something as bizarre as what the driver had for breakfast. The SFS was designed for the F1 team’s “Principal,” the head of the team and the central nervous system of their organization who makes strategic decisions based on real-time data.
Without giving too much away, I will say that the SFS is a game-changer. It has the potential to revolutionize the way the Air Force and other organizations approach forecasting or strategising their next move. While I like to keep the details of the SFS close to the vest, rest assured that this will eventually go to the DoD, and I’m eagerly waiting for the right contract to deliver it.
Update:
DARPA has begun working on what I’ve already thought about doing.