Risk vs Payoff: An Acquisition Case Study of the Tactical Data System
Abstract
A new and inexperienced project officer reports for duty in a program office which is responsible for a complex series of command and control system upgrades in Navy ships. After being on board For less than a month, he is assigned to Form and lead a study group to review the state of the project. He Finds in his investigation that the program is in severe schedule trouble due to numerous technical problems in the support programs used to build the operational software. What should he do? This case illustrates -- through a rather extreme example -the uncertainty faced by a program manager when his technical community can't agree. One side claims difficulties which threaten the success of the program. The other side claims that the problems are only temporary setbacks and the technical foundation of the program is still sound. Neither side has conclusive evidence. Should he accept the technical problems as insurmountable and make sweeping changes in the structure and direction of the project, or should he look for a management solution which will allow the technical problems to be worked around or resolved?
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADB165941
Entities
People
- Charles P. Bingay
Organizations
- Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy