[mschuster91]

The solution is simple: you need someone with absolute authority over everyone including the generals to lead the effort.

There's a time and place for democracy - but large IT projects are not. Do a thorough need analysis, compare with what's reasonably possible using COTS software, and adapt or discard what is not possible.

[vajrabum]

That's exactly why DoD kept bringing Grace Hopper out of retirement first in 1967. They eventually gave her a star in the 80s, and along the way she was as responsible as anyone for the standardization efforts for COBOL and Fortran including the design of standardized compiler validation suites. Testing and interoperability before testing or interoperability were a thing! One of the later major projects she worked on was modernizing the Navy payroll system. Even junior sailors at the time knew that she and her team had made sure they got their paychecks. She retired from the Navy at age 79 in 1986. Nobody messed with Grace Hopper.

[neurotech1]

Adm. Grace Hopper wasn't the only senior officer who was recalled because of their expertise. One is a retired JAG lawyer (a friend actually) who continues to advise at the Pentagon on several areas of expertise. She actually learned COBOL from Adm. Hopper herself, and always had high amount of respect for Adm. Hopper and how she disliked bureaucracy. There is a lesson there.

Ironically, my friend has programmed COBOL on DoD mainframes, and still does as a consultant, having interacted with them for decades. Back in the 1970s she had a surplus IBM minicomputer that her father brought home for business use, and learned COBOL on that, and used the computer for furthering her legal research.

[count]

I can't tell if you're being sarcastic, or earnest.

This is the funniest possible response. The 'thorough need analysis' is the reason we are where we are now!

The thoroughness is so thorough that the needs change faster than the analysis can be completed, obviating the analysis in the first place.