by Justine Meberg
As the Army shifts focus from asymmetric to peer threats, modernization involves significant change. New hardware and software will gather and process increasingly more information across a vast battlespace. Yet, as we integrate new technologies into our units, our formations will get smaller. These dual imperatives—first, become a high tech, modernized force, and second, make it happen with fewer people—require that leaders cultivate the skills needed to do more with less.
These changes demand data literacy. You can find a few definitions here, one of which is as follows: “the ability to read, work with, analyze, and argue with data as part of a larger inquiry process.” In practical terms, data literacy entails knowing how to build a dataset with well-defined columns and rows, using a common set of standards so data is compatible and easy to share, and understanding how to use that dataset to create helpful graphics and answer questions. In addition, data literacy helps to build organizations that gather and use data in effective and efficient ways. This not only aids in task accomplishment—it also means saving time on administrative tasks so that leaders can put fewer Soldiers in orderly rooms and more on mission.
The Army is in a transitional period. We are starting to recognize that working with data will become a core skillset, but this can seem a daunting task. Many people need an entry point for data literacy education. This article shows readers how to begin. It includes links to available resources, offers practical recommendations, and argues that data literacy presents an opportunity to improve how we lead.
How to Become Data Literate
The idea of becoming data literate can feel intimidating, but there are many resources available to guide you. A good starting point is Jordan Morrow’s book Be Data Literate: The Data Literacy Skills Everyone Needs to Succeed. Morrow’s four levels of data analytics—descriptive (what), diagnostic (so what), predictive (what next) and prescriptive (we should)—gave me a conceptual framework that made me better at my job managing military intelligence production. The next time I reviewed a draft product, I used the four levels of analytics and some basic lessons on data visualization to replace multiple pie charts (a visual widely loathed by the data literate) with a single stacked bar chart. One chart was more efficient, and the new chart type made it much easier to compare relative quantities, improving the descriptive level of analytics. The better visual made it easier to notice interesting patterns in the data, which allowed us to make important judgments about trends—the diagnostic level. That, in turn, allowed us to make useful predictions, and to reach the prescriptive level by saying what we should look for in the future, driving future collection. Data literate leadership meant going from a decent product to one that communicated mission essential insights to senior leaders.
In addition to his book, Morrow has a TED talk on the same topic. Through the DoD MWR Libraries website, you can download apps such as Libby, a library of e-books, where you can read Morrow’s work for free. Also through DoD MWR Libraries, you can download the app O’Reilly. It offers books, courses, audiobooks, and more, with a focus on technological skills. In the course catalog alone O’Reilly offers 375 classes about data science. Beyond DoD resources, data culture is committed to open sourcing, so you can find excellent free online guides, videos, and textbooks. Moreover, many websites with data-enabled tools have built-in libraries of high-quality tutorials videos.
The Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) data science team developed a Power App that offers several learning paths, such as data literacy and knowledge management. Another gathers useful links and education options. To practice coding at home, you can download Python, and use its many Python for Beginners resources. You can experiment in the coding interface Jupyter. A good way to start experimenting is by getting to know the Microsoft apps accessible through your government Microsoft 365 account. Most of these come with tutorials, how-to videos, and online forums to learn and troubleshoot. Power Apps and Power Automate are tools with extraordinary potential to automate recurring tasks and manage information.
Power BI allows you to visualize massive quantities of data. Users can create customized reports, summaries, and calculations. Using Power BI, battalion staffs can bring together data from numerous systems of record and automatically compile it into a single dashboard that communicates readiness to the battalion commander. You can, with a few clicks, make virtually any type of chart. It also has a forecasting function that uses advanced math to calculate what will happen next. You can download Power BI Desktop by opening the Microsoft Store on your government computer and typing Power BI into the search bar. The Teams channel “Data Driven Dashboards” can help you develop Power BI skills. Microsoft also has a YouTube channel for Power BI.
Incentivizing Data Literacy
The Army should consider incentivizing data literacy and data science skills. It could allow Soldiers to use tuition assistance to attend civilian coding bootcamps. It might also establish policies for awarding promotion points to those who complete data-related coursework. Senior leaders could emphasize data as a professional development topic by expanding traditional reading lists into multi-media lists designed to reach a larger audience. Such a list could contain links to a TED talk, an interactive site, an online publication, a podcast, a demonstration video for a data-enabled tool, an online coding challenge, or a tutorial. Units could foster basic understanding by including these topics in training plans. We all can identify experts in our formations who can assist others, and we can work with specialized teams to adapt best practices for specific workflows.
Organizational Benefits
Data literacy helps leaders to build healthy, effective organizations. Commanders can use data to see problems, improve quality of life, and build consensus for change. When leaders understand data’s utility, they can structure information gathering processes to facilitate analysis. This does not mean everyone needs to write code. Rather, data literate leaders structure processes to avoid single-use outcomes and maximize long-term solutions.
Imagine a streamlined brigade in-processing system where Soldiers can scan a QR code at S-1 to fill out a form on their phone, or a custom dashboard that presents maintenance status and predicts the parts most likely to be needed next quarter based on historical data. Data literate leaders run organizations where Soldiers spend fewer hours making slides. They eliminate onerous tasks like version control across multiple drafts or updating Excel spreadsheets using other spreadsheets sent by subordinate elements.
To consider a specific example, units that send weekly situation reports (SITREPs) through an email get a single use out of each product. Those that submit them through structured fields, such as with a dropdown menu of lines of effort and sub-objectives in Microsoft Forms, SharePoint, or in a Power App, build a data set over time that produces insights and enables decision makers. Such units can tell which lines of effort and sub-objectives they are not meeting, and redirect effort. They can, with the click of a button, identify what sections routinely fail to provide information and correct that trend.
Conclusion
The data-centric future is a paradigm shift that will affect all parts of the Army. Leaders must adapt. Data can enable high-quality work and improve organizations, allowing us to do more with less. Data can also drown those unprepared to process it. Senior leaders should incentivize data literacy. Yet, there is no need to wait for data literacy education and incentives to arrive to your unit—you can build these skills in both you and your organization right now, at no cost, using existing materials. Good luck!
MAJ Justine Meberg is the 501st Military Intelligence Brigade (Theater) Analysis and Control Element Chief. Previously, she was the Eighth Army collection manager. She deployed to Iraq as a platoon leader and commanded two companies. She has also served as a company executive officer, squadron S-4, division artillery assistant S-2, and battalion S-2. She taught history at the United States Military Academy at West Point and holds a doctorate in U.S. History from Columbia University.
