These are my remarks from the Naval Institute’s Critical Thinking Conference on 25 October 2023. On the panel with Dr. Mark Hagerott, CAPT, USN (Ret.) and Dr. Andrew Ledford, CAPT, USN. A century ago, the Navy created a learning system capable of systematically introducing new tactics, doctrines, and operational concepts. That learning system was the result of a cognitive revolution that began in the late nineteenth century. That revolution had several components: At the Naval War College, Alfred Thayer Mahan introduced an educational approach based on theoretical principles that were applic ..read more

I’m very pleased that Mastering the Art of Command has received an Honorable Mention for the 2022 John Lyman Book Awards in the category of U.S. Naval History. It is a great honor and a nice recognition of the effort that went into the book. I tried to provide new insights and a valuable perspective on Nimitz’s approach to command and leadership. The award, recent reviews, and personal comments I’ve received make me feel like I hit the mark. It’s great to have such validation after years of research and writing. I’m also pleased that the award winner in the category of U.S. Naval History was ..read more

Conway’s Law is a useful paradigm for thinking about system design and a valuable perspective for understanding the evolution of the U.S. Navy’s use of radar in early World War II. Conway’s Law states that “Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization’s communication structure.” In most cases, this means that any system mirrors the structure of the organization that created it since communication patterns often flow along the lines of organizational charts. There are exceptions to this, but it is a very important c ..read more

With my new American Sea Power article coming out soon, I thought it would be worthwhile to post my opening remarks from American Sea Power Project Panel at the Defense Forum Washington last December. USS LST-738 burns after being struck by a Kamikaze off Mindoro, 15 December 1944. USS Moale (DD-693) is nearby. In my article, “Sea Control and Command of the Sea Remain Essential,“ I emphasized the continuing relevance of sea control and command of the sea as concepts. I challenged readers to think about them more broadly, to revisit what we mean by them, and not stay wedded to interpretations t ..read more

I was pleased to contribute to a recent Hudson Institute report on operational innovation and the importance of learning to today’s U.S. Navy. The whole report is available in PDF at this URL. In my section, I focused on the importance of creating a learning organization by coupling individual learning outcomes to the Navy’s operational objectives. The Navy of the 1920s and 1930s was able to do that and there are lessons from that experience. More effective communication, more detailed orders, or more thorough checklists will be insufficient. Instead, the Navy must create an environment that s ..read more

In a recent Modern War Institute series on Leadership in Future War, Dr. Cole Livieratos discussed the “changing context of war” and emphasized the importance of recognizing its complexity. The article is quite good; however, Livieratos’s emphasis on “increasing complexity” raised some hackles. Though a point of fruitful debate, we argue that when viewed from a systems perspective, the complexity of warfare is increasing due to the increase in domains, the physical and conceptual expansion of war, and increasing technological complexity.https://t.co/7eJ9WhdhJw — Cole Livieratos (@LiveCo ..read more

Twitter can be an amazing place. I happened on this tweet the other day and knew immediately what my response would be, but I also knew I couldn’t fit that response in a tweet. Historians, what is the thing that most made you go ‘wait, wut?’ in the archives or in your research? #twitterstorians — Evan Smith (@evanishistory) August 28, 2021 My biggest “Wait… wut?” moment came in the Naval War College (NWC) Archives. I was looking at a series of “fighting strength comparisons” that the NWC had produced in 1929 while preparing for the London Conference of 1930. The comparisons were graphed cur ..read more

It’s been a good year for speaking engagements to draw more attention to Learning War and the creative work my colleagues and I have been doing in the Agile community. I’ve also been able to spend a bit of time looking into and discussing Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and his approach to command, which had a profound resonance with the Navy’s approach to doctrinal innovation and learning in the mid-twentieth century. Next week, I’ll be at Agile 2019. Joey Spooner and I will be taking attendees through an “Adventure into the Kanban Cadences.” It’s a fun and enjoyable simulation that helps people u ..read more

I’m very pleased to announce that the U.S. Naval Institute has awarded me Author of the Year for 2018. It’s a great recognition of the value of Learning War and the work that went into it. Photo by Glenn Griffith The award ceremony was 25 April. I was fortunate to be able to attend, accept the award in person, and express my gratitude. I have been reading books from the Naval Institute for years; it was wonderful to be recognized by an institution that has had such a profound influence upon me and upon the nation’s naval profession ..read more

I mentioned that Learning War has been getting some good press in my last post. Since then, it has appeared in the New York Times Book Review. I was humbled to be honored along with a series of other new military history books on 11 November, the 100-year anniversary of the end of World War I. Tom Ricks wrote the review, and he noted that the “real hero” of my book is “not an individual but a large, complex organization, the American Navy, that quickly grew from second-rate status to become the world’s premier maritime force.” Exactly! Learning War charts the rise of the U.S. Navy over the cou ..read more