H4MoD Problem Sponsor Interview: Lt Col Justin Stein
We caught up with one of our Problem Sponsors, Lieutenant Colonel Justin Stein, who recently co-sponsored a problem at Imperial College London. We wanted to hear first hand about his experience working with a student team.
Hacking for Ministry of Defence (H4MoD) is a postgraduate programme in which teams of 4 to 5 students learn and apply lean start-up methodologies to understand and solve national security and defence problems.
Each team is given a different problem and every problem has a government Problem Sponsor. A Problem Sponsor is someone who works for the MoD - in the military or civil service. The Sponsor is someone who understands and has experience with the problem that they have put forward. Sponsors are a core pillar of the H4MoD course; they play a pivotal role in terms of guiding and advising their student team.
Could you talk through why you decided to take part in H4MoD?
The problem we submitted was one that we’d been trying to undertake deep analysis on, but we simply didn’t have the time or capacity to do so. When we heard about H4MoD we thought it was a perfect opportunity to start the process of learning more about our particular issue.
The real value we envisaged was to have access to a group of motivated students from very different backgrounds. These are individuals that we wouldn’t normally get to meet or interact with professionally. To be honest, it was not so much about the solution that they came to, rather it was the fresh perspective and validation they would bring to looking at this problem.
Within the military, though specialisation is increasing, you still tend to find a lot of people from the same demographic, with a similar background and experience. Therefore, it’s inevitable that when you ask such a group to look at a problem, you often get a ‘group think’ outcome and stock solutions. Our intent was that the student team would challenge stakeholders, be frank with their findings, and be prepared to kick over a few stones and make connections that we had overlooked. We didn’t expect them to come to a thunderbolt ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution that we could immediately take to market. Rather, we saw this as a key phase or a stage in the journey towards a better understanding of the problem and how we should address it.
What were some of the course highlights?
We were genuinely surprised at some of the people the team ended up interviewing. Nearly everyone they interviewed recommended at least one other person that they should talk to and before we knew it, they were cultivating a large network. The team happily went from interviewing a three-star officer down to soldier technicians, unconstrained by military hierarchy in determining the importance of what they heard. Suddenly, we could see all the different spider webs of connections with our problem at its core. Visualising this network of information was hugely valuable in and of itself.
In addition, as the team started to dig deeper, they identified a number of surprising inefficiencies and, to their minds, quite archaic practices. This perspective was both refreshing and informative. By challenging our practices and processes, it required various parties to justify why they did things in certain ways and to ask themselves whether it could be done better.
Could you talk us through the problem that you submitted?
The short version. In Army aviation, time and resource can be wasted by ‘over-servicing’ our aircraft. By way of example, as a car owner, you don’t check your oil tank every two days, nor is it likely that you will keep a spare gearbox in your garage ‘just in case’. But this routinely occurs in aviation. So, the problem that we put to the Team was: how can we better use our existing data in order to optimise engineering efficiency, deliver better aircraft availability and generate savings along the way.
Did your student team come up with a solution or solution ideas?
Yes, they did. Their core conclusion was that this was not so much a problem of technology as one of overcoming organisational inertia. The Team came up with several ideas to overcome ‘resource and routine rigidity’, including a strategy or ‘technical roadmap’. The first step focussed on ensuring that all the aircraft health and servicing data was digitised. So, for example, rather than aircrew having to sign the aircraft logbook after each flight – the F700 would be fully digitised. Likewise, all other helicopter ‘usage’ data would be uploaded in near real time.
In step two, all these digital feeds could be put into (or through) a ‘middleware’ software system that would differentiate and sort the data and present equipment serviceability and maintenance information in a more ergonomic, visual and useable way. Once you have collected sufficient data, you can also start to refine key data points such as how long something takes to fix. You should then be able to apply machine learning algorithms to identify maintenance issues and ideally drive efficiencies. The impact of implementing this strategy could see a far better use of engineering work force time, thereby improving aircraft availability. The change benefits of implementing this strategy could see a considerable savings in terms of time and resources.
Are there any key lessons that you would impart to future problem sponsors?
As a sponsor you get back what you put into the course. The co-sponsor and I committed to providing prompt responses and routinely encouraged the Team to email us directly when they had questions. As the course is only 10-weeks you can’t afford to hold up the Team in any way. It is a busy sprint, and for that period you may have to adjust your work activity. But it was worth it. The experience was energising, dynamic and very enjoyable. I would definitely sponsor another problem in the future.
Lt Col Justin Stein is a qualified Army helicopter and multi-engine fixed wing pilot. He has over 22 years of experience having served in several front-line and training aviation units, plus multiple UK and overseas deployments. He is currently employed in Army HQ, where he supports the delivery of Land and Aviation equipment modernisation programmes.