Expertise in program management takes longer than three years
Here’s an excerpt from a 1970 congressional report by the Committee on Government Operations: “Policy Changes in Weapon System Procurement.” At the time, David Packard […]
David Packard
Origins of the Milestone acquisition process
One of the foundations of the defense acquisition system is the DoD Directive 5000.1, which defines how military systems progress from an idea to production. […]
Cutting contract documentation by 90+ percent
Here is Air Force general Chapman at a 1971 appropriations supplemental hearing with DepSecDef David Packard, asking for additional funds to do prototyping including funds […]
Packard’s fly-before-you-buy principle
Perhaps the best way to explain some variations of a practical fly-before-you buy policy is to take several examples. The AX program is one which […]
Are program managers “little more than an errand boy”? Views from David Packard
Packard said he had seen cases “where the project manager is often little more than an errand boy for all the service officers, both above […]
The backlash to Packard’s rapid acquisition and reform: a warning
David Packard left office as DepSecDef in December 1971, and a few years later with the passage of OMB Circular A-109 and updates to the […]
William Roper is saying all the right things on defense innovation
What we really have to do in acquisition is shift the culture that is solely focused on the balance sheet — on cost — and […]
The history of acquisition since 1950
In an essay published in 1978, the highly regarded historian John Lukacs argues for history that is “microcosmic and sociographic, not sociological and generalizing.” By […]
David Packard’s impact on defense acquisition
This paper contends that the study of David Packard, the co-founder of electronics firm giant Hewlett-Packard and one of the founding fathers of Silicon Valley, […]
Packard on workforce training
In most cases, it still is necessary for a project manager to get a decision by making his recommendations through several layers of hierarchy in […]
Rickover slams the Laird/Packard Reforms
In my opinion the present situation in this regard is worse than I have ever seen it. Further, I predict that the way the present bureaucracy would implement your [Packard’s] proposed directive will make matters still worse.
David Packard pitches prototyping
There are two practices which have consistently led to excessive costs and unsatisfactory results in the development and procurement of weapons systems. One is the excessive reliance on paper studies and paper analysis. The other problem is the concurrency between development and production.