Accelerate System Design
Accelerating the pace of delivery requires making adjustments to the design of the system being developed. It is not sufficient to simply “turn the crank faster,” we must also take a different approach to system design. This page introduces some key system design concepts, practices, and principles that enable acceleration.
Guiding Principles
- Reuse – Someone probably solved your problem already
- Modularity – Ensures design is responsive to new requirements
- Simplicity – Complexity adds friction, fragility, and unpredictability.
- Focus Priorities – Reduces wasted time and missed opportunities
- Smallness – Large programs cost more, take longer, and do less
Think Holistically
An approach to problem solving that attempts to balance holistic thinking and reductionist thinking.
Apply Design Thinking
Design Thinking combines empathy for users, immersion in the problem, creativity in the generation of insights and solutions, and a data-based experimental approach to assess the quality of solutions.
Ride the Simplicity Cycle
The Simplicity Cycle equips teams with a visual vocabulary for assessing a design’s complexity and value. It serves as a framework for guided discussions among program stakeholders.
Just Keep Trimming
Trimming is an iterative technique for removing unnecessary elements from technical designs, system architectures, process diagrams, communications products, and organizational structures.
Build a Modular Open Systems Approach (MOSA)
MOSA is an integrated business and technical strategy for assessment and implementation of open systems in government.
Cross the Valley of Death with Confidence
Transition viable technologies from research centers to acquisition programs and/or directly into the field.
Own the Technical Baseline
Having a deeper understanding of technical details, tradespace, to achieve greater intellectual parity with contractors.
REFERENCES
- Scope Creep, Clip from the Pentagon Wars
- How Complex Systems Fail, Richard Cook, MD ,Cognitive Technologies Laboratory
- Promoting Disruptive Military Innovation, Col George Dougherty
- Habits of Systems Thinking, Waters Foundation
- Owning The Technical Baseline, by Bill LaPlante
- Systems Engineering Strategies for Uncertainty and Complexity, MITRE Systems Engineering Guide
- Flexibility Due to Abstraction and Decomposition paper, by David Broniatowski
- Big Is Fragile: An Attempt at Theorizing Scale, by Arif Ansar et al
- Design Thinking for Innovation, UVA and Courcera online course
- Intro to Design Thinking, edX and Microsoft online course
- IDEO Shopping Cart Video
- Risk Based Approach to Test and Evaluation, DAU, May 2012
- Reasons Behind Program Delays, DOT&E, Aug 2014