Patterns of Success in Systems Engineering of IT-Intensive Government Systems

The objective of this effort was to discover patterns of success in the systems engineering of information-intensive systems in a government acquisition environment using the method of positive deviance. Two large-scale success patterns were observed, each with several recurring sub-patterns. “Balancing the Supply Web” addresses “social” interdependencies among enterprise stakeholders who have different equities in the capability being developed. “Harnessing Technical Complexity” addresses the technical interdependencies among system components that together deliver an operational capability for the enterprise. The large-scale patterns are two sides of the same coin. The programs studied achieved success because of the way they each navigated through these dual interdependencies.