Defense is too big, complex, dispersed to be managed from a single point
It has been suggested in some quarters that I am unwilling to decentralize decision-making authority. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I strongly believe […]
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Modular design requires rethinking the program concept
It will be essential to focus the marketplace on commercial technology areas that have clear applications across a broad range of national security capabilities, and […]
PPBE Reform
The programming aspect of the budget process is the single most important problem of acquisition reform. Funds are locked into finely detailed programs devised 2 […]
EVMS is not well suited to an Agile environment
Problem: DoD established use of EVM as a requirement for periodically measuring linear programs with firm baselines established prior to starting development. EVM is not […]
New policy may put the breaks on rapid acquisition
USD(A&S), however, can still disapprove any MTA [Middle Tier Acquisition] program, whether major or non-major. With advisers from all around the Office of the Secretary […]
Podcast: Agents of Innovation with John Kuehn
In this episode of Acquisition Talk, I speak with Dr. John Kuehn. He is a professor of military history at the Army Command and General […]
One of the last vestiges of central planning left on Earth
Here’s a humorous story shared by SecDef Donald Rumsfeld back in 2001: A man and a boy were walking down the street with a donkey […]
Can the Air Force scale small companies into a program of record?
Remember the dreaded “valley of death” in technology transition? The Air Force plans to bridge the valley by progressively scaling up its pitch days. A […]
Podcast: Andrew Hunter on software-defined, hardware-based adaptable systems
Andrew Hunter, director of the defense-industrial group at CSIS, joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss a set of papers on adaptable systems, […]
How has DIU performed in transitioning technologies?
Since 2015, millions of dollars have been invested in the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit, the agency watched as some of its projects fell flat, and […]
Information is not transformation
Here are excerpts from Allen Schick’s excellent study on the performance budget (PB), also known as the program budget or the Planning-Programming-Budgeting (PPB) system. Remember, […]
Monopsony, bailouts, and regulations — 3 problems of defense acquisition
In weapons systems acquisitions, however, there are three important differences in buyer-seller relationships: One, the buyer represents the only market, for the product and […]
We should never have a spec detailed enough to take 5 years to execute
Milo Medin [VP Wireless Services, Google]: Impact is the big thing everyone wants from their life. And that’s true for software professionals as well. If […]
Modular architecture, incremental decisions, and software acquisition
Jeff Boleng [USD(A&S) Special Assistant for Software]: Should we separate our hardware procurement and our software procurement, and maybe even look to different vendors to […]
Capt. Mark Vandroff (ret.) on people, process, and delegation
I was pleased to have Mark Vandroff speak with me on the Acquisition Talk podcast. He served 30 years in the US Navy before retiring […]