People, process, and delegation with Capt. Mark Vandroff (ret.)

I was pleased to have Mark Vandroff speak with me on the Acquisition Talk podcast. He served 30 years in the US Navy before retiring as a Captain, with his most recent positions including the Program Manager of the DDG-51 shipbuilding program (2012-2017) and Commander of the Carderock division of the Navy Surface Warfare Center (2017-2019). In the episode, we discuss why scientists and engineers should read the classics, how to manage large and complex organizations, why we must start with the end in mind, whether or not the Department of Defense is risk-adverse when it comes to acquisition, how a working capital fund really works, and lessons Mark learned from Sean Stackley -- including the "Stackley curve." The conversation features an analysis of the "valley of death" problem associated with transitioning new technologies from the labs into an official program of record. Mark argues that the principle cause of the "valley of death" is not the contract process -- which can be alleviated by skipping over the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) using special authorities -- but in fact is traced to the Planning-Programming-Budgeting-Execution (PPBE) process. Mark describes the coordination necessary for a program manager to make changes in the budget through what is called the Program Objective Memorandum (POM). He finds that there is no one responsible for taking new technologies from the lab to the program offices, whose managers couldn't know which emerging technologies needed the funding when their requests went in 3 years before. He argues that there needs to be a mission-based appropriation which provides additional flexibility. Mark warns us, however, not to carry that idea too far. Major new items like ships should still proceed through regular channels. I'd like to thank Mark for joining me on Acquisition Talk. Be sure to check out some of his great material, including articles discussed in the podcast "Power to the Polymath," "Reflections on Tailoring Leadership for a Perfect Fit," and his widely read article "Confessions of a Major Program Manager." Here is Mark providing a great lecture on acquisition using Star Wars as an analogy. Here he is being interviewed on DefenseNews. And I highly recommend listening to both of his episodes on Commander Salamander's Midrats podcast (on USN's Labs, Research Facilities, and Ranges -- and on Confessions of a Major Program Manager). He is also quite active on Twitter, follow him at @goatmaster89. This podcast was produced by Eric Lofgren. Soundtrack by urmymuse: "reflections of u". You can follow us on Twitter @AcqTalk and find more information at AcquisitionTalk.com.