Sort Each System by Who Should Integrate It
The Integrator Sort
Companion to You Are Not the Warfighter · Updated 2026-09-29
Use this to decide who should integrate a class of system: industry, industry with warfighters judging, a Warwright team with reach-back, or a Warwright team at the unit. Worked in “Sort Every System by Who Should Integrate It.”
The Integrator Sort: seven questions, each answered with the evidence behind the answer.
| Question | What to answer | Our answer | Evidence behind it (mark every unknown) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Consequence | If it fails, who is hurt, and did they choose the risk? | ||
| 2. Gates | Which certifications must it pass, and can a unit-level team carry them? (Weapons legal review, airworthiness above Group 2, nuclear surety, energetics and explosives safety, an ATO on DoD networks, spectrum, component-origin rules.) | ||
| 3. Scale | How many, and do they need rate production and a qualified supply chain? | ||
| 4. Life | How long will it serve, and who sustains it after the builders rotate? | ||
| 5. Tempo | How fast does the threat change what it must do: weeks, months, or years? | ||
| 6. Openness | Can it be built from components with documented interfaces the government may use? | ||
| 7. Maturity | Are its technologies mature, or is invention still required? |
The answers place the class in one of four lanes:
Lane I:: Industry integrates. Exquisite platforms, nuclear systems, manned aircraft and ships, munitions and interceptors. Lane II:: Industry integrates and warfighters judge. Major subsystems on those platforms; D0 to D1 test decides acceptance, and the government still buys the data. Lane III:: A Warwright team integrates with reach-back, and industry supplies. Mission software, planning and command-and-control applications, mission kits, tactical data integration, and systems fielded across many units. Lane IV:: A Warwright team integrates at the unit. Attritable and consumable systems, printed parts and tools, sensor kits, plug-ins, and training aids.
Apply the placement rules in this order:
- Check for the three answers that override the rest: a consequence answer of “people who didn’t choose the risk, not containable by test,” a gate a unit can’t carry, or a need for rate production. Any one of them puts the class in lane I or II, whatever the other answers say.
- Otherwise, fast tempo and real openness push the class toward lane III or IV.
- Long life and large scale push it toward lane III.
- Re-run the Sort whenever quantity, network connection, or armament changes. A lane IV prototype often becomes lane III when it’s copied.
Record the lane, the date, and who placed it. If an answer has no evidence beside it, re-run the Sort before anyone buys anything.