Shift Left! Test Earlier in the Life Cycle

Abstract

To achieve the outcomes of Better Buying Power (BBP) and deploy improved capability to our warfighters in an effective and timely manner, we have to get the development right and verify it through rigorous developmental test and evaluation (DT&E) before we commit to production. In other words, we have to Shift Left! We have to change the paradigm that encourages testing late in the acquisition life cycle. Our acquisition process has some important test and evaluation (T&E) activities occurring after the decision to begin production. Why does this matter? In short, testing late means finding problems late, when it is most costly to fix. Late discovery then leads either to delayed deployment--or to accepting and fielding the system, where our warfighters will bear the burden of the development shortcoming. The Shift Left initiative fundamentally is about improving DT&E to set the conditions for successful production and deployment. Shift Left achieves this goal through earlier identification and correction of failure modes, thereby avoiding the high costs of late cycle repair and reducing the impact to our warfighters of fielding capabilities that do not satisfy requirements.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2013
Accession Number
ADA608685

Entities

People

  • Steven J. Hutchison

Organizations

  • Defense Acquisition University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Cyber
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Business Administration
  • Cyber Threats
  • Cybersecurity
  • Cycles
  • Department Of Defense
  • Deployment
  • Developmental Tests
  • Failure Mode And Effect Analysis
  • Instructions
  • Lessons Learned
  • Life Cycles
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Acquisition
  • Resource Management
  • Security
  • Test And Evaluation

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Educational Psychology