Applying Agile Program Management Principles to Defense Research and Development

Scientific research can be notorious as an innovative process with inefficient procedures. Often, project management develops as part of a mentorship model, where individuals learn how to run laboratories or oversee experiments based on what they observed from various mentors. This characterization is also true of defense research, which likely involves more complex projects and more real-world applications than scientific research in other domains. As such, there is immense potential to enhance the efficiency and quality of defense research by applying lessons learned from formal project management techniques. Here, the primary goal is to explore Agile project management values and principles for possible implementation into defense research laboratories. Overall, there is considerable opportunity to apply these principles to defense research, even though they were created for software development. However, there are several unique challenges in defense research compared to software development, including defense research laboratories being part of the national security apparatus, properly scoping the projects involved, and appropriately aligning roles when government and contractor personnel are involved in the research process. Through lessons learned and best practices derived from both Agile training methods and defense research experience, this exploration produces several items (e.g., the Defense Research Agile Checklist) that could be valuable for any defense research facility seeking to produce greater efficiency in their processes and ultimately create better end products for service members.