Do defense decisions require more strategic planning?
Here’s a slice from Henry Mintzberg’s excellent 1994 book, The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning. His basic argument is that staff planners, who use […]
Blog Posts
Getting the facts confused on commercial items
Foe to monopolist power Matt Stoller provides some comments on acquisition policies in Nancy Pelosi, China, and the Slow Decline of the US Military. He […]
Does DoD not actually want startups to win programs of record?
Here’s the excellent Steve Blank on the Village’s Solarpunk podcast, Rebuilding the Department of Defense. Everyone’s talking about the PPBE — Planning, Programming, Budgeting, Execution. […]
Acquisition headlines (8/1 – 8/7/2022)
US Army, not Meta, is building the metaverse. (Venture Beat) “In terms of industry progress towards the cloud-supported, scalable metaverse, no organization has come further […]
Anduril grows revenue to $150M in its first five years
There’s a new article from The Generalist Reader called Anduril: The Business of Defense. Tons of interest on the background and offerings the company has […]
Federal contractors don’t know which decade they’re in for software development — “We’ve got to change the game”
Here’s slices from a good discussion at the Aspen Security Forum with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and chief of naval research Admiral Lorin Selby. Hoffman […]
The choice between unique and diverse actions in weapons acquisition
For some problems, great gains will come from unique binding choices resulting from systems analyses; for others the gain will come from diversity of actions… […]
Has Congress descended from oversight to micromanagement?
Here’s a slice from a conversation between Peter Levine, Bob Work, and Susanna Blume on Peter’s recent book: Defense Management Reform. Bob Work: I do […]
Acquisition headlines (7/25 – 7/31/2022)
Kessel Run shows how to bridge the gap between development and operations. (War on the Rocks) Dan Patt and Brian Beachkofski: “But software is different. There […]
How to rejuvenate speed in the aerospace and defense sector
The global aerospace and defense (A&D) industry can produce astonishingly advanced airplanes and other complex equipment, but it routinely fails to develop those programs on time, on […]
Podcast: Strategic planning and digital transformation with John Whitley
I was pleased to have the John Whitley join me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss digital transformation, the potential for “as a service” […]
Middle-Tier of Acquisition is under serious threat unless oversight can think differently
Here’s an update on Middle-Tier of Acquisition (MTA) authorities and how they are facing serious backlash from oversight. MTAs, of course, provide DoD rapid prototyping […]
DoD’s requirements process falling short: The case of explosive materials
Michienzi said the U.S. industrial base does not have the surge capacity to replenish munitions stocks quickly, and one of the constraints is the production […]
Acquisition headlines (7/18 – 7/24/2022)
RIMPAC 2022: Navy teaming warships with unmanned surface vessels. (USNI News) “Cmdr. Jeremiah Daley, the commander of the recently established Unmanned Surface Vessel Division One, said […]
Air Force’s NGAD needs to be a “team of systems,” not a “family of systems”
I recently blogged about the family of systems concept for the Air Force’s Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program. NGAD is envisioned to be more […]