Ends, Ways, Means and Bacon

So it's been an interesting week.  The 16 of us have apparently taken a lot less time to become comfortable with each other than I thought, and we've gotten to the point where our instructor has had to come down on us for taking up too much time.  Fortunately the discussions are generally productive, usually entertaining, and often directly relatable to whatever the topic of the day happens to be.  This is good, too, because somedays you can only take so much of the Structure and Processes of the Department of Defense, or The National Security Strategy and Structures.  While I had wanted to post

Still, somedays we stray from the assigned subjects and discuss things like Lance Armstrong's decision to go on Oprah and give a non-apologetic non-admission for doping to win his Tours de France.  Soon the discussion evolved to why, in today's world of shock-and-awe reality TV, we should embrace doping, and even demand it.  Just imagine, in addition to the regular old Olympics, we could have the Steroid Olympics, where athletes would not only be encouraged to go all the way with doping, but to push their bodies to the absolute physical limits.  You would get a gold medal if you could actually make yourself explode, a silver for the loss of two limbs, and bronze for the loss of a single limb...

Otherwise we've been focused on identifying Ends, Ways, and Means.  We were given a copy of the National Security Strategy, and then from it we were to identify the Ends - meaning the overarching objectives of the strategy.  These generally are framed in terms of final verbs, and clearly identifiable as an end state.  Next, we identified the Ways - meaning the things we could/would do to achieve our Ends.  Ways are also framed in terms of verbs, but can be much more wide-ranging.  Finally, we brainstormed the various possible Means - meaning the actual resources we could use to execute the Ways in order to accomplish the Ends. 

So, let's imagine that you wake up Saturday morning to discover your spouse made breakfast.  Unfortunately you soon discover that your kids ate all the bacon, and this just will not do. What is the ultimate problem?  You don't get any bacon.  What is the ultimate solution to this problem?  You getting some bacon.  So, this will be your End - Get some bacon.

What are the possible Ways you can make this happen?
You can throw a fit like a two-year old, screaming "I want my bacon!"
You can bribe your spouse to go get you more bacon and cook it.
You can call your neighbor to see if they have bacon to give you.
You can go to the store and buy more bacon.

What resources (Means) do you have/need to execute your ways?
Transportation to get to the store
Money to buy bacon/bribe spouse
A phone to contact a friend or neighbor
A stove and pan to cook your bacon

So, the next time you've got a problem on your hands, just remember, define your Ends, identify your Ways, and list out your Means.  Then, you, too, can solve problems like the US government!