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Chapter II II-4 JP 3-0 understand the conditions for victory before seeking battle. Without operational art, campaigns and operations would be sets of disconnected events. Operational art governs the deployment of forces and the arrangement of operations to achieve military operational and strategic objectives. c. The commander is the central figure in operational art, not only due to education and experience, but also because the commander’s judgment and decisions are required to guide the staff throughout joint operation planning and execution. Commanders draw on operational art to mitigate the challenges of complexity and uncertainty, leveraging their knowledge, experience, judgment, and intuition to generate a clearer understanding of the conditions needed to focus effort and achieve success. Operational art supports the effective exercise of command by enabling a broad perspective that deepens understanding and visualization. Commanders compare similarities of the existing situation with their own experiences or history to distinguish the unique features that require innovative or adaptive solutions. They understand that each situation requires a solution tailored to the context of the problem. Through the application of operational art, commanders seek innovative, adaptive options to solve complex problems. d. Operational design requires the commander to encourage discourse and leverage dialogue and collaboration to identify and solve complex, ill-defined problems. To that end, the commander must empower organizational learning and develop methods to determine if modifying the operational approach is necessary during the course of an operation. This requires continuous assessment, evaluation, and reflection that challenge understanding of the existing problem and the relevance of actions addressing that problem. e. Operational art applies to all aspects of joint operations and integrates ends, ways, and means, while accounting for risk, across the levels of war. Among the many considerations, operational art requires commanders to answer the following questions. (1) What are the objectives and desired end state? (Ends) (2) What sequence of actions is most likely to achieve those objectives and end state? (Ways) (3) What resources are required to accomplish that sequence of actions? (Means) (4) What is the likely chance of failure or unacceptable results in performing that sequence of actions? (Risk) f. Operational art encompasses operational design—the conception and construction of the intellectual framework that underpins joint OPLANs and their subsequent execution. Together, operational art and operational design strengthen the relationship between strategy and tactics. 4. Operational Design a. Operational design extends operational art’s vision with a creative process that helps commanders and planners answer the ends–ways–means–risk questions. Operational design