DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS
TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL
(U//FOUO) Two Seminars, Panel Discussion Planned for Analysis
Conference
FROM:
Program Manager, Institute for Analysis (IFA) (S211A)
Run Date: 04/07/2006
(U) The Annual Analysis Conference will be here before you know it, so be sure to sign up for all
the wonderful events which interest you. Some that are sure to spark an interest are those that
are sponsored by the Institute for Analysis.
(U) On Wednesday, 3 May, the IFA will sponsor two 90-minute seminars (see below). Check the
analysis conference registration page to find out the specifics regarding times and locations.
(U) The Art and Science of Narrative
(U) What comes after good analysis? The story. The best ideas are understood and acted upon
not only because of their analytic rigor, but also because they are presented in a way that
captivates decision makers. In this 90-minute seminar we'll explore the art and science of
narrative and learn pragmatic tips for making analysis accessible and actionable. Drawing on the
work of Betty Sue Flowers and Steven Denning, the Institute for Analysis will present a
framework and engage participants in interactive exercises to explore narrative in an analytic
setting.
(U) Structuring ill-defined problems
(U) The analytic challenges we face are increasing complex and difficult to define. The way we
ask questions dictates the way we look for answers. In this 90-minute workshop, The IFA will
present a workshop for effectively framing complex analytical challenges. Participants will
explore ways of understanding customer needs, identifying data sources, exploring interpretive
frameworks and effectively processing and communicating analysis with other analysts. Drawing
on proven frameworks used in the IFA and in the business and social science communities, this
workshop will focus on analytic challenges, which require open source information and involve
analytic teams.
(U) Panel Discussion on "The Future of Analysis - How the Best CEOs, Physicians, and
Journalists Deal with Increasingly Complex Problems."
(U) On the closing day of the annual conference, Thursday, 4 May, at 0830 in the R&E
Symposium, the IFA will sponsor a 2-hour panel discussion on "The Future of Analysis - How the
Best CEOs, Physicians, and Journalists Deal with Increasingly Complex Problems."
(U) Are the problems you are asked to solve growing more complex and difficult? Is technology
changing everything about your work, but often not making you more efficient? Is managing the
conflicting demands of different stakeholders or clients taking ever more time?
(U) The intelligence community is not alone in facing increasingly unstructured problems-problems of extraordinary complexity with a multitude of causal forces and interactions. A panel
of experts representing three important disciplines--business, medicine, and journalism--will
discuss their approaches to addressing highly unstructured problems and the future of analysis
from their unique perspectives. These fields are particularly relevant to the intelligence
community because they share a common set of challenges: the problems they face are
becoming ever more difficult; their environment and ways of operating have been completely
changed by technology; and they must deal with intense and conflicting demands from an array
of constituencies and customers.
(U) The panelists (see below) will discuss how the best practitioners in their respective fields
navigate the challenge of assessing information and accurately reflecting what they know and
don't know to advise customers, decision makers, or readers; they will also share how these
practitioners use new technologies and new paradigms of knowledge management and
communications to their best advantage. Each will address how they and the organizations they
work with are trying to systematically update their own methods and mindsets to become more
effective over time.
(U) Come learn how the future of analysis will play out outside the intelligence community, and
how it will have an impact on you.
(U) Panelists
(U) Mark Fuller, the CEO of Monitor Group, will speak from the vantage
point of business. In addition to running a large and diverse knowledge-based professional
services firm, he has advised dozens of corporate clients on developing new knowledge
architectures, optimizing human interaction with new technological capabilities, and managing
organizational change -- exactly the type of issues the agency is facing.
(U) Dr. Michelle McMurry, head of the Aspen Institute's Health, Biomedical
Sciences, and Society Initiative, will speak from her experience as a physician, scholar, public
health administrator, and health policy expert for Senator Lieberman's 2004 presidential
campaign. She has deep expertise in the vast new technologies available; the ethical and
economic consequences of their use; and the pressure and confusion caused by ever increasing
amounts of information (good and bad) going to patients, providers, payer organizations, and
public sector groups--only some of whom are in a position to make wise use of the information
they receive.
(U) Michael Zielenziger, former head of the Asia Bureau for Knight Ridder
News Service and an experienced journalist, author, and scholar, will discuss how journalists are
tackling these challenges both in the U.S. and in the very different cultural environments of Asia
and the Middle East. He has studied how widely dispersed but not always accurate information
affects different political constituencies. He will address how this information flow and the
resultant new competition are affecting the journalism profession--setting management against
journalists, forms of media against one another, and dividing the journalists themselves--and
how this is radically opening up what it means to be a "professional" journalist.
(U) Steve Weber, a political science professor and director of the Institute
of International Studies at University of California at Berkeley, will moderate. The institute he
directs is currently researching three hugely unstructured problems: the economic and public
policy issues around open source business models in pharmaceuticals, software, and
telecommunications; the nature of the war of ideas between the Islamic world and the West;
and the future of the Sino-American great power rivalry. Steve has an M.D. as well as a Ph.D. in
political science with a focus on how knowledge-intensive industries develop and affect workers,
businesses, governments, and the global political economy.
"(U//FOUO) SIDtoday articles may not be republished or reposted outside NSANet
without the consent of S0121 (DL sid_comms)."
DYNAMIC PAGE -- HIGHEST POSSIBLE CLASSIFICATION IS
TOP SECRET // SI / TK // REL TO USA AUS CAN GBR NZL
DERIVED FROM: NSA/CSSM 1-52, DATED 08 JAN 2007 DECLASSIFY ON: 20320108