How metrics led to the deprioritization of delivering capability: DoD obligation rates
Here’s a slice of a paper from Col. Jesse Marsalis at National Defense University: The Negative Impacts of the Benchmarks. The benchmarks in question of […]
Management
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
JCIDS process timelines and impact on Software Acquisition Pathway
After the Oct. 2021 release of the new JCIDS instructions (CJCSI 5123.01I), here’s a little more information on the Software Initial Capabilities Document (SW-ICD) requirements […]
NASA’s administrator says cost-plus is a “plague,” just as DoD is giving up on fixed-price development
Here’s an article about NASA’s administrator Bill Nelson in ArsTechnica, NASA chief says cost-plus contracts are a “plague” on the space agency. Nelson was asked […]
How can future fighter aircraft be developed as a family of systems rather than vertical stovepipe?
Here’s Special Assistant to the SecAF Dr. Tim Grayson speaking at a recent Hudson Institute event hosted by the excellent Bryan Clark and Dan Patt […]
Talent, resource allocation, and SpaceX
Here is an excerpt from entrepreneur and VC Daniel Gross talking with Tyler Cowen about their new book, Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and […]
DoD won’t be able to out-compete China in central planning
That’s one of the things that our new CEO, former deputy secretary David Norquist talks about. We’re competing against a country that’s really good at […]
PPBE’s negative impact on innovation also extends to contracting
Here’s a slice from my new article in the May 2022 edition of NCMA’s Contract Management Magazine, How Defense Budgeting Stymies Innovation (gated). Iteration and […]
Ukraine conflict exposes DoD bureaucratic inadequacies
Here is a viral LinkedIn post from the excellent Pete Modigliani. Also, be sure to check Pete out on the Critical Update podcast speaking on […]
Can defense acquisition become highly reliable? Yes! Just add redundancy.
Is it possible to take a set of individually unreliable units and form them into a system “with any arbitrarily high reliability”? Can we, in […]
DoD exported PPBE to Eastern Europe after the Cold War. Here’s how it went.
he budgeting method that has come to be known as the Planning, Programming, and Budgeting System (PPBS) – or Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) […]
Is the Air Force heading back to paralysis by analysis in weapons choice?
Here’s Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall quoted in a recent Space News article, speaking about problems in current acquisition: “Overall, we start more […]
Other Transactions continued growing in FY21, but will it soon level off?
Contracts using other transaction authority saw another year of growth in the Department of Defense, but only when excluding awards for COVID-19. Obligations unrelated to […]