At this year’s AFA Air, Space & Cyber event in Washington DC, one theme kept surfacing: advanced technology creates an advantage when people can intuitively understand the system and then engage - quickly and decisively. A few of the panels on multi-domain Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Electronic Warfare made it clear that the biggest hurdles aren’t just technical—they’re also human.

In ISR discussions, leaders pointed to the need for systems that work together and deliver fused data (multiple, integrated data sources) fast enough to act on. The challenge isn’t a shortage of information; it’s how that information reaches the operator. If it’s confusing, delayed, or overwhelming, it’s useless. 

That struck me because this is exactly where design comes in—building interfaces and workflows that simplify complexity, support mission planning in real time, and help operators move from sensing to decision without hesitation. 

The challenge isn’t a shortage of information; it’s how that information reaches the operator.

The Electronic Warfare panel reinforced the same truth in a different way: trust is everything. Operators struggle to adopt a system they don’t trust, no matter how powerful it is. Building that trust requires design choices that reduce clutter, adapt to context, and make system behavior transparent. It also means designing for flexibility—open architectures, rapid updates, and hardware / software that can keep pace with fast-changing threats.

The clearest message came from a Colonel who closed one of the panels: industry has to sit with operators to really understand their problems. That resonated with me. At Teague, we’ve seen time and again that when we embed with users, prototype early, and design hand-in-hand with operators, the result is not just usable—it’s trusted, adopted, and effective.

For me, AFA 2025 reinforced what I already believe: the future of defense isn’t only about better technology—it’s also about better design. If you’re looking at how to accelerate capability adoption, I’d love to share how our human-centered design approach can help.