Seven Tips to Support Rapid Product Deployment: Lessons Learned

Abstract

Navy leadership has tasked its workforce to respond to an urgent need of identifying good ideas that fulfill immediate warfighter gaps in offensive and defensive capability. This paper describes how following seven tips gave a 3.5-person team the ability to develop a working prototype demonstrating the framework of a cutting-edge, counter Unmanned Aerial System (cUAS) technology, supporting a complete kill chain solution. When good ideas are accepted by Navy leadership for feasibility investigation, budgets are tight, teams are small, and expectations are high. This necessitates an environment that introduces a need for rapid product prototyping of a working system/framework that will inspire additional monies to support rapid deployment. Seven tips describe detailed lessons learned involving project management, resource management, system engineering, and architectural analysis, including the use of Open System Architecture (OSA). Specific best practice techniques applied to the rapidly prototyped cUAS technology example, including generic discussions of Program of Record technologies, are used as case studies emphasizing the benefits of each tip described. By considering the seven tips, the workforce is given guidance, examples, and food-for-thought as to how to meet Navy leadership's urgent need for rapid deployment of cutting-edge technology.