What’s the secret sauce in AFRL’s Space Vehicle Directorate?
… our secret sauce is that we have some organic capability to do things. What I mean by that is we have actual scientists and […]
workforce
Podcast: Affecting the strategic calculus with Michele Flournoy
Michele Flournoy joined Jordan Schneider and I on a crossover episode of the China Talk and Acquisition Talk podcasts. She is a former Undersecretary of […]
Systems engineering isn’t a substitute for talent and capability
I believe that the fundamental difficulty is that we have all gotten so entranced with the technique that we think entirely in terms of procedures, […]
The story behind the first microprocessor and the F-14
Here’s part of a fascinating story from Ray Holt, who designed one of the first microprocessors in 1970 for the F-14 Tomcat. … my first […]
Should the Pentagon look to Detroit-style or Hollywood-style markets?
With the microphone and with recording devices [for example], you can reach the whole globe. So, that’s a huge improvement in productivity of a singer. […]
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 […]
Podcast: Getting the culture right with Soraya Correa
Soraya Correa joined me on the Acquisition Talk podcast to discuss small business programs, the procurement innovation lab, workforce training programs, why contracting officers might […]
The imperative of an acquisition theory
Conversations over several years tended to reinforce the impression that there was weak, but nonetheless real and expanding, disgruntlement with Defense Acquisition’s inability to provide an account of how it worked and a justification as to why…