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TABLE 1. SURVEY QUESTIONS (CONTINUED) 13. (Satellite Developers) How does your organization ensure that ground systems are completed and operational before the launch of new capabilities? (Non-space & Space R&D/Other) How does your organization ensure that your system (munition, telescope, etc.) has a transition path or avoids the "valley of death"? 14. What tools/mechanisms does your organization have in place to hold industry partners accountable? Are these tools/mechanisms used successfully, why or why not? 15. How does your organization manage and monitor technical progress? (Consider tools for budget, schedule, and technical tracking) 16. How does your organization facilitate engagement with operational users during the requirements generation process to ensure alignment with mission needs and operational objectives? (consider quality and duration of engagements) *NOTE: This question was accidently dropped off from the survey; no data was gathered 17. How does your organization facilitate engagement with industry before, during, and after contract award and execution? (Consider team dynamics, openness, creating buy-in & team mentality, etc.) 18. Explain the documented policies (or lack thereof) enabling or hampering the integration of modern technologies and tools (AI/ML, flexible funding, etc.) into your acquisition processes to enhance efficiency. 19. Identify specific processes, documented authorities, or institutional best practices that enable your organization to expedite the acquisition process and respond rapidly to emerging needs (e.g. physical proximity to milestone decision authority). 20. Identify any organizational best practices that are implemented at this organization that could benefit the larger acquisition community. The first nine narrative questions—7 through 15—were worded to mirror Calvelli’s 9 Tenets. The rationale for linking directly to the tenets was to determine if best practices across the broader DoD would triangulate to these tenets—this method was deductive in nature and will be discussed further in the Data Analysis section that follows. Triangulation is a way to use several data sources to increase the credibility or validity of research (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015). Patton explains, “Triangulation, in whichever form, increases credibility and quality by countering the concern (or accusation) that a study’s findings are simply an artifact of a single method, a single source, or a single investigator’s blinders” (Patton, 2015, p. 674). This study used triangulation to determine whether or not the best practices identified by Calvelli were similar to the themes discovered across the DoD. If so, they would be considered “triangulated” and added to the proposed space acquisition doctrine (see Recommendations). If not, they would be considered for possible exclusion. Additionally, inductive themes were compared to the 9 Tenets, PM Essentials, and Defense Board Report to triangulate further toward the best practices and skills identified in those documents. The 9 Tenets were included in the inductive theme comparison because the survey's
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Defense ARJ, Summer 2025, Vol. 32 No. 2: 132—193
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