Rapid organizations need to hand-pick their teams
From a cultural perspective, the bloated program offices reporting to large bureaucracies of functional and headquarters offices stifling creativity and innovation while attempting to deliver […]
Blog Posts
Acquisition headlines
Marines are finally about to receive their first new pistol in 35 years. “The M18 will replace the Beretta M9 that the Corps adopted in […]
Navy tries to bring enterprise IT up to the “state of the shelf”
Over the past several decades, the size and duration of contractors for services, particularly in the areas of information technology (IT) and networking, have increased […]
Beijing’s innovation strategy
Compared to other advanced economies, Beijing invests shockingly little in fundamental S&T or cutting-edge capabilities. This is true in both the civilian and the military […]
Defense budgets are “sticky” in the near term
In a letter to committee Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and ranking member Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the Democrats, most of whom are in the Congressional Progressive Caucus, urged the panel’s […]
Inducing contractors to maximize within a budget constraint
During World War II, there was more to accomplish than there were resources at hand. The attitude of contractors was, “How much can we do […]
F-35’s ALIS software updates, indecision, culture clash
To be cleared for flight, F-35 policy states that an aircraft must be electronically “complete” in ALIS [autonomic logistics information system], meaning that all of […]
OTAs twice as big as SBIRs, but how are they being used?
In 2018 and 2019, $11.4 billion was spent through [Other Transactions Authority] OTAs, over twice as much as was spent on [Small Business Innovation Research] […]
Acquisition headlines
Roper Sees High-Low Mix for Hypersonic Missiles. A slice: “We could carry more of them on a bomber, but we also could carry them on […]
Contract challenges for modular open systems
Typically, a small percentage of the overall profit on a major defense system comes from software development. At the same time, the future upgrade and […]
Schriever, the Atlas ICBM, and the question of concurrency
In July 1954 the Scientific Advisory Board had recommended developing an alternative missile to the Atlas. This recommendation was motivated by fear that the pressurization […]
More Air Force success turning manual processes into software, TRON/BESPIN
Scheduling training for C-17 Globemaster III pilots and crew is about to get easier with the launch of Puckboard, a data-powered software application to plan […]
Why are defense programs so big?
Mother Nature does not like anything too big… Mother Nature does not limit the interactions between entities; it just limits the size of its units… […]
Problem curation and lean methodology with Pete Newell
Pete Newell joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss a range of issues around problem curation and lean methodology. He is the CEO […]
Anduril shows off very cool capabilities for ABMS
As we look at how we close kill chains, there’s very much a man in the loop at every single point. That process today takes […]