Soul Mx - Stove Piping

This is part of a series shared ecumenically with members to whom I was assigned; the goal was to start conversation and deep thought, and many of these messages led to great conversations.

Stove Piping
Original Publication Date: 7 January 2021

In the Intelligence Community (IC) there is a term that gets thrown around a lot called “Stove-Piping”. Stove-piping is the idea of a stove that is making lots of heat but all of that heat is going right up the pipe and not warming the room. In the IC the picture is the same, it’s organizations that are doing awesome work but who aren’t telling anyone else, their efforts aren’t helping anyone else, and their knowledge is dissipated because it doesn’t reach the right people. The official definition for stove-piping is 

Compartmentalization and duplication of intelligence gathering.

Some of my most frustrating moments in the IC were when we were deep in a project and found out someone had already accomplished the same project, or another time talking with another agency and finding out that they were working the exact same project we were working. Conversely we once saved a ton of time when a senior leader saw what project we were starting and pointed us at another project that was so similar we only had to tweak a few details to complete our project, saving months of time and thousands of man-hours, as well as delivering a completed package to decision makers well ahead of schedule. (If all of this sounds cryptic, find me in ~2043 when these projects are scheduled for declassification and I’ll give you more details if I can)

Stove-piping, while endemic to the IC, is not limited to the IC. One of the things I love about PCA/PCSing is the transfer of knowledge to those that will come after. This is all of the techniques, contacts, tricks, and processes you’ve learned in your current position that you want to share with others so they don’t have to start from scratch. Some organizations have done this better than others with share-drives and pass-to-holder folders and continuity binders, but others have not. I inherited a program in 2011 that hadn’t had anyone open the continuity binder since 2006; to say that that program was out of compliance and out of date was a definite understatement. It’s easy to look back at those who came before and be frustrated with their stove-piping, but I’m always amazed and perturbed when I’m PCSing and I find out that I’ve retained so much information that I’ve never written down or passed on to anyone.

And stove-piping doesn’t just occur at work, it happens with our friends, family, and neighbors as well. What have you learned about life, faith, finances, cooking, vehicle maintenance, driving, tips for living in South Dakota, base happenings, and anything else, that you haven’t passed on to your spouse, children, nieces and nephews, classmates, friends? What do you know that someone else would be benefited by telling them?

Isaac Newton spoke of his indebtedness to the knowledge and experience of others by saying, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Every great leader I’ve ever met or read about points to mentors who have made them the person they are today. CMSgt Benji Roberts at the 28th Logistics Readiness Squadron gave a speech this week where he named dozens of people who had invested in his life; now, because his past mentors did not compartmentalize their knowledge, we at the 28 MSG are privy to that great experience as Chief Roberts pours into us.

The IC has made huge strides towards reducing stove-piping, such as Kelly Johnson and Ben Rich at the Skunk Works battling over-classification, but it still happens. Which strides can you make this year to stand on the shoulders of giants and also be that vantage point for generations to come? I encourage you this year to spend time making sure you’re not letting all your hard work dissipate into the atmosphere, but that you’re using it to benefit others and that you’re investing in others, that with our shared experiences we can truly do great things!