The Defense Industrial Base has mastered compliance and program management, but it has struggled mightily in software engineering and even more so in product management. This gap explains why firms like Anduril and Palantir are thriving. They brought modern product management discipline into a space that had virtually none.

This talk introduces a spectrum of product management philosophies and maps them to DoD opportunity contexts.
• High consequence systems such as weapons, sustainment, and space programs require structured, risk managed strategy frameworks. Thinkers like Roman Pichler, Clayton Christensen, and Geoffrey Moore provide approaches that fit these domains.
• Mid tier programs such as logistics, command and control, ISR, and cyber defense can benefit from Teresa Torres’s continuous discovery habits, Ash Maurya’s Lean Canvas, and Bryar and Carr’s Working Backwards.
• Innovation contexts such as software factories, special operations projects, and AI or machine learning prototyping thrive with empowered, experimental approaches from Marty Cagan, Eric Ries, and Steve Blank.

Attendees will leave with a practical framework for matching product playbooks to defense opportunities and a sharper understanding of why product management, not just engineering or compliance, will decide the future of the Defense Industrial Base.

This talk is intended for Defense Industrial Base executives, capture leaders, program managers, product leaders, engineering leaders, and DoD acquisition professionals who want to better match product management approaches to different defense opportunity contexts.

It is especially relevant for organizations competing in software, C2, ISR, cyber defense, sustainment, space, AI/ML, software factories, and special operations programs. Attendees will gain a practical framework for applying the right product playbook to the right opportunity and understanding why product management is becoming a decisive advantage in the future of the DIB.

Preferred Session Duration: 50 mins including Q&A