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As an AS3/LNO between our MiTT (FID) team and parent BN during our last deployment I spent time providing two reports to dual HHQ. One was a "Blue-1" report which was a Word Doc. I would summarize daily activities and operations as well as provide the next 48 hours worth of planned OPNs. It took me 30 minutes to complete. Any graphics, imagery, photos, or visual files I included as an appendix and referenced in the relevant paragraph.
The other was a story board. I spent more than an hour making it pretty. It consisted of incomplete bullet points and pictures crammed onto one or two powerpoint slides. It contained less than 1/4 of the information a Blue-1 did and took twice as long.
Not only can powerpoint stifle the thought process it simply eats up time that leaders could and should be spending on the ground observing and adjusting intent being met/not met.
This is why I am glad the MCCC (formerly ICCC) teaches the CO Phase analog. We had too many guys spending time getting slides "right" in the BN phase that we lost significant quality on the inputs/outputs of MDMP.
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