The Cyberspace Development Dogfight: Tightening the Acquisitions Turn Circle
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to assess the ability of DoD software development to keep up with the increasing rate of technological change and propose avenues for improvement. The research attempts to answer a fundamental concern set forth in the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review. How do we adapt software acquisitions strategy to cope with the increasing rate of technological change? The following conclusions were reached: (1) software projects must be scoped and scheduled for development cycles on the order of months, not years, and must use open architecture, Agile Development methods, and scalable designs with modular code; (2) budgets must be stabilized for long-term integrity, with a software development working capital fund reserved for JUONS-like urgent IT needs; (3) increased use of MAJCOM-level or AOC-level business centers must be encouraged and funded to produce tailored software modules that interface with larger agile programs built to accept these modules; (4) we must take advantage of ATCD and ATD efforts from research laboratories, giving MAJCOM and AOC business centers budget authority to "pull" a limited amount of ATDs, ACTDs, and JACTDs from the labs through the appropriate System Program Office to produce and field operational software (by default, not by exception); and (5) periodic software development working groups and conferences should be continued, but with emphasis on standardization and sharing of lessons learned between services, MAJCOMs, and AOCs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA502242
Entities
People
- Matthew P. Larkowski
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology