Posted on Nov 26, 2014
What Is The Best Way To Share Best Practices Or Process Benchmarks With Similar Units, Across The Force?
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Slight rant...
The AF has been pushing for individuals to innovate for some time. The phrase "more with less" comes to mind. The CSAF has stated we need to stop doing things that don't make sense. For years since I've been in the Air Force, there have been pushes for benchmarks, best practices, smart operations, and IDEAs.
If they were serious about innovation, we'd have a better way of sharing those benchmarks and best practices and helping other units copy those efficiencies.
http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/554085/commentary-airmen-powered-by-innovation-program-launches-new-site.aspx
"[O]n the enhanced API page you will find nine “hot buttons or icons” allowing you to query previously submitted API ideas (search to see if an idea has been submitted already), see what ideas have been approved, submit your idea, and most importantly check the status of your submission."
There is now a tool for those submitting their ideas to check if its been submitted before and "most importantly" to check the status of your submission.
I can read a paragraph description of your good idea, but there is no way for me to copy and implement that idea across every similar unit in the AF.
This blows my mind. And to top it off, when I submitted my idea to have a way to share the details to execute these good ideas, I received an message stating I wasn't the first to submit that idea...
Lesson observed.
Rant off.
The AF has been pushing for individuals to innovate for some time. The phrase "more with less" comes to mind. The CSAF has stated we need to stop doing things that don't make sense. For years since I've been in the Air Force, there have been pushes for benchmarks, best practices, smart operations, and IDEAs.
If they were serious about innovation, we'd have a better way of sharing those benchmarks and best practices and helping other units copy those efficiencies.
http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/554085/commentary-airmen-powered-by-innovation-program-launches-new-site.aspx
"[O]n the enhanced API page you will find nine “hot buttons or icons” allowing you to query previously submitted API ideas (search to see if an idea has been submitted already), see what ideas have been approved, submit your idea, and most importantly check the status of your submission."
There is now a tool for those submitting their ideas to check if its been submitted before and "most importantly" to check the status of your submission.
I can read a paragraph description of your good idea, but there is no way for me to copy and implement that idea across every similar unit in the AF.
This blows my mind. And to top it off, when I submitted my idea to have a way to share the details to execute these good ideas, I received an message stating I wasn't the first to submit that idea...
Lesson observed.
Rant off.
Posted in these groups: 
Process Improvement
Best Practices
Process Improvement Best Practices
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 3
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We used to cull through the Tactical SOPs (TACSOPs) of higher and related units and add and modify what wasn't in ours in an effort to create and use the best practices out there.
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i also thought of the Army Suggestion Program, which had been around for a long time. I learned when I went looking that it has been suspended due to lack of discretionary funding. The Army used to reward people (financially) for money saving ideas.
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Maj (Join to see)
So...keep the program, suspend the monetary incentives, and share the wealth of knowledge. It's sort of a warm fuzzy that its not only the Air Force.
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Maj (Join to see), your post made me think of the Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL):
http://usacac.army.mil/organizations/mccoe/call
http://usacac.army.mil/organizations/mccoe/call
Center for Army Lessons Learned | US Army Combined Arms Center
The Center for Army Lessons Learned continuously leads the Army LessonsLearned Program and identifies, collects, analyzes, disseminates, andarchives lessons and best practices while maintaining global situationalawareness in order to share knowledge and facilitate the Army's and UnifiedAction Partners' adaptation to win wars.
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Maj (Join to see)
J9 has a lesson's learned archive. From what I've combed through, they're mostly after-action reports, but also at such a high level (strategic/operational) they aren't that useful for individual units.
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