The second lesson-from-history article examined the Bentley Priory decision-making environment, at the center of an integrated air defense system, and part of an overall sense-and-respond system used by Royal Air Force (RAF) Fighter Command under Air Marshall Hugh Dowding.
The third lesson-from-history article examined the supply chain run by Whitehall and how Lord Beaverbrook introduced the concepts of agility to improve the efficiency of the supply chain.
The fourth lesson-from-history article examined in more detail the third area, Bletchley Park, the role of intelligence and ultimately knowledge management.
The fifth lesson-from-history article examined in more detail the fourth area, Storey's Gate, the Map Room and the executive dashboard for Churchill.
In May 1940, Churchill, faced with an imminent invasion, ran a project that integrated four areas into a solution. These were all at different levels of development and maturity, and included Bentley Priory, the Whitehall supply chain for fighter production, Bletchley Park and Storey's Gate (see Figure 1). This sixth lesson-from-history article examines in more detail the last area, Storey's Gate, Churchill's Bunker and the Cabinet War Rooms, a collaborative environment for decision-making, and its relationship to the Map Room.
Figure 1: Churchill's Solution Consisted of Four Integrated Areas
The Center of Collaboration
When Churchill first became prime minister (PM) he was concerned about the lax practices in his administration and the way the government was run. He remembered from the First World War when, on too many occasions, decisions on policies were challenged in meetings because there was no written record. He didn't want to the repeat the same mistakes in his administration - no muddles or uncertainties. He was determined to raise the bar so that meetings were run professionally with agendas and minutes.
Churchill had to set the example, and the Cabinet War Room was the center of collaboration at the most senior levels and the inner sanctum of British government, as shown in Figure 2. It was the largest room in the complex, the heart of Storey's Gate and provided functions for collaboration, conferencing, and decision-making. An elaborate level of security was developed for it. The room was used for meetings of the PM, the War Cabinet and its advisers, the chiefs of staff for the armed forces and coalitions of ministers from Parliament. They met daily, even twice daily, to deal with all issues from military planning to food rationing.
Figure 2: The Cabinet War Room The Center of Collaboration
The design of the Cabinet War Room included a U-shaped table for the ministers and a rectangular table for the chiefs of staff. As Minister of Defense responsible for directing the war, Churchill occupied the large seat at the center of the room, with a world map behind him, as shown in Figure 3. Churchill embedded into the War Cabinet the military arms or chiefs of staff, the military leaders or subject matter experts, to take part in all cabinet meetings. In this way, he could build a close relationship between senior military and political figures through daily contact, which is important in a total war.
Figure 3: The Cabinet War Room Layout
Real-Time Decision-Making
The Cabinet War Room was also a real-time decision-making environment at the most senior levels. It had a close relationship to the Map Room, both for inputs and outputs. The basis for decision-making is good, reliable intelligence, and the Map Room acted as an executive dashboard in providing real-time synthesized information and key performance indicators (Part 5). The Map Room provided Churchill a snapshot of the war, as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: The Map Room Walls were Pasted With Large-Scale Maps
Access to the Map Room was strictly controlled. The walls were pasted with large-scale maps of the world and all major theaters of war. The changing fronts were updated by officers in real time, closely following key events like enemy movements and battles, as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5: The Changing Fronts were Updated by Senior Officers
The Map Room provided an indicator model to the war, a wealth of information on the order of battle, troop movements, enemy positions (equivalent to competitive intelligence today), and industrial production capacity were all important inputs for decision-making. For example, not only was the brewing air battle over Britain tracked but also so were other theatres like the Battle of the Atlantic, or the war in the Middle East and Africa. Using nothing more sophisticated than drawing pins and bits of colored wool fronts were tracked, as shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6: Large-Scale Maps Depicting all Major Theaters of War
Take Actions
Once decisions were made in the Cabinet War Room, these had to be turned into actions through orders passed to the Map Room. The Map Room was a collaborative environment run by intelligence officers from the three military arms, or the "arms and legs" of the chief of staff. It was also a communication hub with links to their various command headquarters through the colored telephones in the center of the room, the "dawn chorus," as shown in Figure 7.
