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Challenges to Governing C2 Lifecycle Capability

This paper presents an overview to the challenges in governing C2 holistically as a capability. It is written as part of the NATO-HFM-342 study panel, itself the successor to the exploratory activity, NATO-HFM-ET-184. Under the aphorism ‘physician heal thyself’, the paper presents the different dimensions to how Conway’s Law hinders hierarchical C2 systems and their wider ecosystem to transform themselves into anything other than a reproduction of themselves. Structurally this breaks down into two aspects of the dilemma of Who Owns the C2 system, the bureaucratic nature of the Capability Development (CAPDEV) system, the traditional stove-piping of projects in the CAPDEV system, and the stovepiping of Science & Technology skills in the organisations that support CAPDEV. Lastly, the strong role of institutional culture which envelopes all these systems, is explained and how it hinders progress to more agile C2 arrangements.