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Intelligence Marines from throughout the Marine Corps presented
software they created to leaders of the Marine Corps Intelligence
Surveillance Reconnaissance Enterprise accelerator program in
Stafford, Virginia, March 4, 2016.
The accelerator program is
a 12-week course that brings Marines back into the development
process of the gear they will use in the future. One of the things
that spawned from this course was the C-ME program which allows
Marines from anywhere to quickly and easily communicate with each
other through a virtual map.
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March 9, 2016 - Buddy Steshka, a technical support specialist at
ManTech International Corporation, explains a program created by a
Marine Corps Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance Enterprise
Accelerator team. The program is being used to help intelligence
Marines do their job. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by LCpl. Julien Rodarte)
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This accelerator program is helping Marines get exactly
what they need to do their jobs.
“When a product gets
kicked out, it's not exactly what the Marines wanted,” said
Buddy Steshka, a technical support specialist at ManTech
International Corporation. “A way to correct that is by
having the users drive the design. They tell you what they
want and how they want it, and you let the engineers figure
out how to put it together and make it work.”
The
12-week course allows Marines to work closely with these
engineers to make their solution a reality.
“The accelerator program is more important
now than ever because it puts Marines right with the
developer,” said Steshka. “Working with them week in and
week out, constantly double checking the progress and
overviewing what they have created to make sure that it
stays in line with their desires.”
The first week of
the program revolves around concept design. Marines are
trained to think outside of the military mindset and
discover the main problem they are trying to solve
throughout the week.
“One of the most difficult
parts about the program is trying to define a problem that
will address both intelligence and operations, and working
together to make sure that problem can be fixed,” said
Master Sgt. Tiffany Winfrey, a geospatial chief at II Marine
Expeditionary Force, and a participant in the accelerator
program.
Marines learn to be more open-minded and are
even encouraged to draw out their ideas to get both sides of
the brain working.
“By Thursday of week one,
everything comes together. They've broken that initial way
of thinking and have started to get their problem down to a
granular level,” said Steshka.
They start a design
cycle to create a minimum viable product or prototype of
their solution during weeks two and three.
For the
remainder of the course, the Marines and engineers
constantly evaluate the product to make sure it is fast,
easy to use and effective.
At the end of the program,
the accelerator teams are asked to present their product to
MCISRE leaders. This is the final step to see how useful the
product is going to be.
This course brings Marines
from all over the intelligence community to make change
where they feel it is needed.
“I think this program
is great because it lets Marines know no matter your rank
you have a voice to implement change,” said Winfrey.
The MCISRE accelerator program is looking for more Marines
to help develop the future of the Marine Corps.
“Send
us more Marines,” said Steshka. “The more Marines, the
bigger cohort we have, and the younger they are, the greater
these products are going to be.
“It is important that
they are younger because we are building these things for
the next generation.”
By U.S. Marine Corps LCpl. Julien Rodarte
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2016
The U.S. Marines
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