T12 - Breaking Down Barriers: The “Common” Sense Approach

Presentation Description: As technology made available to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) continues to advance at unprecedented rates, the design, procurement, and development processes utilized by the government are left outdated. The capability that was developed through hardware over a long period of time has since been replaced with agile software-centric systems requiring an enhanced computing infrastructure.

Working with a $5B DoD acquisition program, it became apparent that having a system comprised of equipment individually managed by over 10 different organizations was leading to a siloed approach that would prevent the development of a common, scalable, upgradable, secure, and ready system.

The future of quality relies on not only a tool box of Lean Six Sigma tools, but an approach involving strategy, Lean Six Sigma, and agile methodologies. This presentation will bring the audience through the approach that Herren Associates guided the government through to enable the success of aligning over 10 organizations to a common strategy and breaking down barriers in the government. As a result, together, the organizations are able to achieve a computing infrastructure that supports continuous updates to software and technology to outpace the threat. This “common” sense solution can be scaled to all levels of the DoD and their annual budget of over $600B to lead to further efficiencies in government spending.