Sample Summary & Objectives

• What were we trying to solve
• What did we do
• What were the results
• How did we structure EV to assess progress
• What did we learn from the change

The DoD has struggled for decades looking for the "magic elixir" on software intensive programs. Several methodologies have developed over the years to address the problem of keeping software on time, within budget and providing the technical solution large scale programs require. Although BAE Systems does not pretend to have a "magic elixir", they have had some success by integrating the methodologies of Spiral and Agile Development to an implementation that significantly reduces risk. BAE Systems calls this methodology "iterative software development" and implements the construction phase by completing a series of short (75 days) development cycles. In the early stages of the program, infrastructure, development environment and bottoms up requirements discovery assist the software group to make significant progress while reducing long term program risk in the face of incomplete information. This methodology has performed well on one large-scale program and this presentation describes how this was accomplished.