AGILE ACQUISITION FOR ... HARDWARE? Agile processes using minimum viable product strategies enable hardware development to deliver capabilities at speed.

The article discusses how agile processes using minimum viable product (MVP) strategies can be applied to hardware development in order to deliver capabilities quickly. It highlights two programs, the High Mobility Decontamination System (HMDS) and the Negatively Pressurized Conex (NPC), which successfully used agile strategies typically used in software development to design, develop, test, and deliver hardware systems at a rapid pace. The article provides a template for program managers to use MVP and iterative prototyping in hardware acquisition, emphasizing the importance of direct user feedback and communication throughout the development process. It concludes that agile strategies have the potential to enable hardware programs in any acquisition pathway to develop high-performing capabilities at fast speeds. [Extracted from the article]