Tyler analyzes the Malayan Emergency of 1948-1960 focusing on the intelligence needs and methods of the British high commissioner, Sir Gerald Templer. He demonstrates the importance of information gathering and analysis in bringing about the ultimate British victory. Operational design is "a highly complex mental process that imagines the future, reflects on the past, and produces an understanding of both the problem and the optimal solution." Templer and his intelligence professionals did not-indeed could not-consciously use design as a methodology, they intuitively grasped and applied its essence.