Revisiting “SCUDHunt” and the Human Dimension of NCW: Some Thoughts

The “SCUDHunt” game-based experiments conducted by the CNA Corporation and ThoughtLink Inc during 2000–2002 explored Shared Situational Awareness (SSA) in a Network Centric Warfare (NCW) environment. Our paper re-analyses the results of those experiments, with a particular focus on the human dimension of the experimental results. We thereby significantly extend the conclusions of the original study, which was focused on technology issues rather than the human dimension. Our re-analysis demonstrates that differences between “good” and “bad” teams had a greater impact on mission effectiveness than any technology factor. It also shows that major contributors to mission effectiveness were good team dynamics, professional mastery, and ability to use the technology. Of these, team dynamics was the most important. Our re-analysis also illustrates the fact that the often lauded Shared Situational Awareness (SSA) is not an end in itself: poor teamwork and insufficient levels of professional mastery can lead to teams sharing agreement on incorrect assessments of the situation, sometimes with tragic results. Our conclusions underline the importance of the human element in the networked future force, and support the Australian emphasis on professional mastery. We conclude with some general observations and lessons learnt in the area of human experimentation for NCW.