Command and Control - Back to the Basics
Command and Control is a controversial term that has gathered a lot of negative connotations over the years (or maybe decades?!?!?). First, I'd like to shift the lens on it, by defining the Command part as the feed forward - the signal traveling right-bound in the picture below -, while the Control part is the feedback connection - the signals traveling on the lower connection back towards the left of the diagram. Right away, I feel way better about it. Since it allows me to see it in the perspective of the learning system: 1. First, the entity driving it issues a command. 2. Then, the system proceeds to execute in accordance with its understanding of that command. 3. At this point, one or multiple control modules collect measures/signals/metrics/parameters about the system. 4. In this step, the driving entity is presented with these points of feedback. 5. Finally, the driving entity makes a decision based on the info at hand to issue the next command. This mental model applies to ...