This article examines how Professional Military Education (PME) can strengthen human interoperability as NATO transitions toward data-centric warfighting. While artificial intelligence and data integration drive technological transformation, their effectiveness depends on officers’ ability to cooperate across national and institutional boundaries. The central claim of this article is that standardised heuristics – conceptual models taught in PME – function as critical cognitive tools enabling such interoperability. Using a qualitative, conceptual design, this study assesses established frameworks such as Ends-Ways-Means, fighting power, and the interoperability schema. The analysis suggests that these heuristics stabilise cognition, foster shared understanding, and anchor NATO’s digital transformation in human coherence.