The theme for this issue is “Building It Better.” The first paper is “Engineering a Better IT Program Manager: A Comparative Study of IT PM Education and Training,” by William J. Parker. It evaluates the relationship between technical education/commercial project management certification and project management success, using data for information technology (IT) program managers (PMs). The author concludes that there is no relationship between undergraduate technical degree, commercial PM certification, and project management success.
The second paper, by James Hasik, “How to Bail Out a Defense Contractor: Cases on Securing a Supply Chain
in extremis,” reviews nine prominent bailouts of defense contractors from the past 50 years. The author concludes that providing short-term infusions of cash may be necessary but insufficient to maintain industry structures, while providing long-term demand is both necessary and likely sufficient to maintain those structures.
The third paper, “Effective Decision-Making Behaviors for Defense R&D: Accounting for Dynamic Competition,” by Mark Calafut, Shahram Sarkani, and Thomas A. Mazzuchi provides a fresh examination of competition in research and development (R&D) in the ecosystem of defense industry companies, government laboratories, and not-for-profit organizations. The study identifies behaviors that achieve greater average value than standard alternatives that do not account for competition.
This issue’s Current Research Resources in Defense Acquisition focuses on DevSecOps (Development, Security, Operations).
The featured work in the Defense Acquisition Reading List book review is
12 Seconds of Silence: How a Team of Inventors, Tinkerers, and Spies Took Down a Nazi Superweapon by Jamie Holmes, reviewed by Emily Beliles.
Dr. Joseph Ilk has left the Editorial Board. We thank him for his service.
We welcome Mr. Patrick Morrow to the Editorial Board.
Dr. Larrie D. Ferreiro
Chairman and Executive Editor
Defense ARJ