Software Management Technologies Needs

andS&T Strategies

DoD Software Engineering

Science & Technology SummitAugust 7-9, 2001

Management WG Members

• Christine Davis• Pete Kind• Chris Abst• Jim Dobbins• Mike Falat• Walker Royce• Murray Bosward

• Eugene Crostley• William Nelson• Karen Siefert• Dr Luqi• Linda Roush• Rayford Vaughn• Mohammed Al-Said

Defense S&T Mission

“… successful strategy must foster research that develops new ideas and new innovations. It must also use the advances in information technologies to enable a revolution in military affairs based on total battlespace situation awareness and information assurance.”

From Defense S&T Strategy 2000

We Think Too Narrowly

• Most software conference agendas deal with software engineering, techniques, problems, and some tools, but…..

• Most cost and schedule overruns are bigger than just software – they come from fit and interface with the bigger picture– We don’t do that well now– And it’s changing rapidly

Some Defense System Trends

• Extensible and more broadly applied Modeling and Simulation

• Simulation Based Acquisition

• Network Centric Operations

• Global Information Grid

• COTS

• Acquisition change

Warrior Information Progression

Data

Information

Situation Awareness

Situation Understanding

Information Superiority

Decision Superiority

Faster and better than the adversary

Warrior Applications• Knowledge Management• Network Centric• Intelligent agents• Robotics• Information Assurance• Communications and data convergence• Collaboration• COP – CROP (Common Operating Picture vs

Common Relevant Operating Picture)• Family of Interoperable Systems• Information Dissemination Management

How the information works is more important to the warrior than how any of his other systems work

Our ability to manage the development and insertion of technology is dependent on S&T research and development

Current Status

• We are not using tools we do have

Why not???

• The tools we do use tend to be stovepiped, with incomplete and/or inconsistent views

• We don’t have tools that provide user friendly managerial data (that managers know how to use and find useful)

Challenges

• Recognition of the problem– Managers are still principally hardware oriented– System engineers don’t understand software or

tradespace

• Getting the people to use the tools we do have• Identifying new tools needed

– Includes common data/information sharing

• Improving quality and reliability• Improving ease of use• Cost

Concerns

• Erosion of software engineering capability – national problem

• Poor SE track record, credibility

• Emphasis on early IOC rather than quality

• Are not honest with ourselves

• DoD incentivizes poor performance

• Quality, education of PMs

Concerns II

• Focus on statics between milestones rather than dynamics, progress measurement, context dependent metrics

• System engineering does not recognize software or tradespace (university curricula and in practice)

• DoD professional development and education is largely non-existent

• Need more partnership, exchange with industry

Management S&T Needs - Tools

• Configuration management system/process– Lexicon – terminology, dictionary– Architecture, framework– Configuration Management – requirements,

functionality, system, COTS, test/exit criteria, interfaces, systems integration and tests, deliverables, versions

– Life Cycle Costs estimation and tracking

Management S&T Needs – Tools II

• Risk estimation

• Resource estimation

• Reliability of code, especially COTS, individually and with other systems

• Data, information flow capture

• Quantify true value added, not just cost expended, as product is being developed

Management S&T Needs – Tools III

• Context dependent metrics– What we measure against in software changes

over time (discovery, application)

• Link cost, performance, schedule

• System health, SOS health and implications

• Workforce and education requirements and tools

Management S&T Needs – Tools IV

• Automatic Testing Equipment for rapidly changing software– Not only perform automatic testing, but

validate accuracy results, eg, timing, ballistic accuracy

– Humans focus on out of tolerance deltas– Can autovalidate systems

Management S&T Needs – Tools V

• Above listed tools are essential to functions as listed separately

• Management benefits most when tools are designed as part of or integrated into a tool set or system which allows all participants and stakeholders in system development and fielding to interrelate using the same data for their functional views and gain true visibility on program status, progress, risk and problems

DoD Outcome Without S&T

• Continued overruns, duplication, failures,

• Loss of technical superiority and ability to maintain information and decision superiority

• Lost lives and failed missions

DoD Outcome with S&T

• Visibility over true cost, schedule and progress

• Programs delivered on time at less cost• Maintain technical, information and

decision superiority• National software engineering strength,

which in turn supports DoD mission accomplishment

Grand Challenge Problem

• To develop and integrate management tools into common system with appropriate (consistent) data views for all stakeholders– Requires both science and education

• Backup charts

Candidate Approaches -Our Workshop Business

• Need – define and pull technology

• Push – opportunities for advancement

Working Group Objectives

• Assess and prioritize needs

• Assess and prioritize candidate initiatives– Missing S&T– Good ideas– DoD outcome without Missing S&T– DoD outcome with Missing S&T

• ID grand challenge problems

• ID strategies – 1-3, 3-5 and >5 years to payoff

Defense Information Systems S&T Funding

• Significant Funding in this area

• Focused on higher functionality and performance

Information Systems Funding (2001 DTAP)

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

FY99 FY00 FY01 FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05

($M

)

Seamless Communications

Modeling and Simulation Technology

Information Assurance

Decisionmaking

Computing and Software Technology

•(From 2001 DTAP)

Defense S&T Planning

From 1999 DTAP

Defense S&T Planning (con’t)

• BRP - Basic Research (6.1)

• DTAP - Technology Development (6.2)

• JWSTP - Demonstration (6.3)– Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration

(ACTD)– Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD)

• Other Areas - Mantech, SBIR

The Software Intensive Systems S&T Challenge

• Improve the Quality, Reliability, Schedule and Affordability of SIS in addition to improving functionality/performance