ARMY AL&T
of minimum viable product, recommend a new definition of MVP that is inclusive of hardware development, and provide a template for program managers to use MVP and iterative prototyping in hard- ware acquisition.
WHAT IS AN MVP? When I talk to acquisition professionals in hardware development and they hear the term “minimum viable product,” they tend to think of an end-product with the mini- mum performance benchmarks to meet a stated requirement. Tey envision an end- product where features are removed until the product fits within cost, schedule and performance constraints before produc- tion and fielding.
FAST MOVING
The minimum viable product process for hardware development used in the urgent needs pathways to develop the HMDS and the NPC. (Graphic by the author)
contaminating others on the aircraft trans- porting them—delivered urgent capability at lightning speeds by using a hybrid approach to acquisition. Tese programs tailored their acquisition process using methods typical of agile software devel- opment despite being hardware-centric systems. Software development compa- nies focus on agile strategies as a primary project management structure; however, agile project management is not common in hardware development in DOD acqui- sition. Te HMDS and NPC teams used minimum viable product (MVP) and iterative prototyping strategies, pillars of software development, to design, develop, test and deliver hardware systems at the speed of relevance.
Both programs had significant design and development processes and robust
test programs while moving in high-pace acquisition environments. Te HMDS fielded its initial capability within nine months, and “the first NPC mission was flown 85 days from JUON [Joint Urgent Operational Need] issuance,” retired U.S. Air Force Col. Paul “Jimi” Hendrickson said in his 2021 presentation “Te Nega- tively Pressurized Conex (NPC) Program – How Acquisition and Systems Engi- neering Agility Delivered Capability to USTRANSCOM in 95 Days.” Te NPC team won the David Packard Excellence in Acquisition Award in 2021, DOD’s high- est acquisition team award.
Tis article will describe how program managers can apply agile processes, typi- cal of software development, to deliver hardware capabilities at a rapid pace. It will consider the DODI 5000 definitions
Tose in software development, however, think of the term in a completely differ- ent way. An MVP is an early prototype designed to understand the usefulness or potential demand of a product with the minimum amount of effort neces- sary. An MVP is a starting point. DODI 5000.87, “Operation of the Software Acquisition Pathway,” defines an MVP as “an early version of software to deliver or field basic capabilities to users to evalu- ate and provide feedback on. Insights from MVPs help shape scope, requirements and design.”
Tis is the only definition for an MVP in the Adaptive Acquisition Framework. Notice that it focuses on gathering infor- mation early in the product development cycle. It is a ball of clay ready to be molded. Also notice the definition specifies “soft- ware.” DOD could modify the MVP definition to incorporate hardware and software. A general definition of an MVP for DOD hardware and software capabil- ity development could be “a prototype that provides the program office with enough information to determine that the acqui- sition is worthwhile as soon as possible in
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