Strategic architecture approach to transforming defense acquisition: A case study in moving from formal bureaucracy to lateral hierarchy

Abstract

The U.S. Defense acquisition system is notoriously resistant to fundamental reform and improvement. This case study examines the fundamental change in the technical architecture of the Navy's submarine sonar system and its acquisition enterprise. Many studies and recommendations for acquisition reform focus on process and incentive structures, few focus on architecture. Rather than focus on process, this case study focuses on the inter- and intra-organizational relationships, the larger scale social and bureaucratic dynamics and the technical architecture. We find that the technical architecture changed from tightly integrated hardware/software architecture to a layered architecture. Layering enabled a spiral development process able to match system upgrades to commercial technology rates of change. We also find a layered enterprise architecture, where different organizations were connected at different hierarchical levels. This enabled fleet operators to provide unfiltered feedback to development engineers, mid-level managers to coordinate priorities and key decisions and senior leadership to provide consistent strategic guidance to the system.