Journal Article
Developing a Stakeholder-Assisted Agile CONOPS Development Process
Start Date: 2012-01-01Lead Authors:
Dr. Robert Cloutier
Dr. Deanna Kennedy
Peter Korfiatis
Dr. Sara McComb
Dr. Ali Mostashari
Concepts of Operations (CONOPS) are documents describing the characteristics and intended usage of proposed and existing systems. They provide information about the requirements and future desired states the project aims to achieve.We reviewed 22 recent CONOPS from government and private sector institutions to ascertain the current approach to CONOPS development. Based on the CONOPS review and research literature, wehighlight three key areas, stakeholder involvement, shared mental models, and visualization, through which the development process may be improved. Moreover, we suggest that the development process itself may be transformed into an agile process that addresses current short-comings in the key areas. To do so, we propose anagile CONOPS development process conducted through three iteration-driven phases and present corresponding research and commercial tools that may be leveraged at each phase. As such, putting this agile process into effect may reduce development time, improve effectiveness, and change the perception of the CONOPS from a burdensome documentation procedure to an invaluable resource throughout the system lifecycle. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng 15: 1–13, 2012
Publication:
Systems Engineering, 15(1) (Spring 2012): 1-13