Articles

By Andrew Park | 2025-10-14 How to Leverage No Code Tools, RPA, and AI Agents Effectively Across the Department of Defense, automation is becoming an operational necessity. Whether the goal is reducing manual workload, increasing mission readiness, or modernizing outdated workflows, the question is not whether to automate — it is how. There are three major categories of automation tools in use today. Each is suited to a different type of work. Choosing the right category up

By Andrew Park | 2025-08-19 Vendor lock-in has sunk some programs and made others heroes. What separates the two? Throughout my career working with defense programs, I've observed these same dynamics play out across different vendors and contracts. The F-35 program perfectly illustrates how this cycle begins. In the early 2000s, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter was awarded to Lockheed Martin with a contract structure that gave the prime contractor extensive control over the airc

By Andrew Park | 2025-08-07 Throughout my career, I’ve had conversations with many Engineering VPs and CTOs who’ve shared a common frustration: “Our developers have never been great at documentation, and it’s leads to a lot of technical debt problems.” But there’s a new twist now. Over the last year I’ve heard some of these same leaders placing hope in AI tools to solve this once and for all. This is a seductive belief, and it’s also one of the most dangerous myths in modern

By Andrew Park | 2025-08-01 How the Buyer-User Disconnect and Weak Product Management Put Mission Success at Risk Throughout my career, I’ve heard countless DoD operators say the same thing about their software systems: they’re slow, hard to use, unreliable in the field, and rarely match how the mission is actually executed. These recurring problems stem from deep flaws in how DoD software is acquired, funded, and managed, starting with the fact that the people buying the sof

By Andrew Park | 2025-05-29 Lack of Human Codebase Understanding Poor Architecture & Design Lack of Product Knowledge Lack of Good Documentation Bias Toward Code Previously Trained-On Poor Understanding of Debugging Inability to Handle Innovative Data Transformations Conclusion AI can rapidly generate tons of code—but is that code technical debt or technical wealth? Technical debt from poor decisions increases the time needed to understand, debug, rework, and enhance code. Th

By Andrew Park | 2025-04-24 Every Product Leader dreams of having engineers who are mission-driven—who care deeply about solving customer problems, challenge assumptions, and shape the solution alongside Product and Design. What you want are engineering missionaries. But what many organizations unintentionally create are engineering mercenaries—teams trained to wait for instructions, deliver tasks, and stay disconnected from the “why.” And one of the most persistent reasons t

By Andrew Park | 2024-11-1 In a recent conversation with David Luke, Agile Alliance board member, he pointedly criticized a common mindset that often divides product and engineering teams: “I don’t tell you how to run the business; you don’t tell me how to code.” This way of thinking fuels a separation that limits collaboration and constrains innovation, resulting in teams that are misaligned and products that miss the mark. The Problem with “Stay in Your Lane” Thinking W

By Andrew Park | 2024-10-31 In a recent conversation with Simonetta Batteiger, a seasoned product leadership and executive coach, we explored the evolving role of Agile and Scrum in product management. Simonetta, founder and CEO of Inclusive Leaders, brings over 15 years of experience in product management across multiple industries. As an advocate for inclusive leadership, she supports teams in thriving and building impactful products. This article captures insights from our