Implications of Pressure for Shortening the Time to Market (TTM) in Defense Projects

Abstract

In recent years, government and prime contractors have been expressing a growing demand, requesting that their defense R&D contractors shorten the Time To Market (TTM). This paper presents a study aimed at investigating whether developing systems using fast approaches is always preferable to traditional approaches. Does working according to a fast development approach ultimately shorten TTM? And if so, what are the implications of achieving this goal in relation to meeting the requirements and the planned budget? Two groups of projects, three projects in each group, were examined. The traditional, step-by-step, development strategy was chosen for the projects in the first group while for the other three projects, fast development strategies were chosen. The findings of the study show that fast development approach is not always preferable to the traditional approach. Pushing for a shorter TTM eventually caused serious budget and time overrun problems.