In areas such financial portfolio management, automotive manufacturing, and the defense sectors, new methodologies such as real options and spiral development have been successfully implemented to optimize both program output and minimize program risk over several decades. On June 5, the Human Space Exploration Initiative and the Defense Industrial Initiatives Group, both programs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), hosted, in cooperation with the International Center for Decision and Risk Analysis at the University of Texas at Dallas, and the sponsorship of EADS, a conference on new developments and methodologies and how they can be applied to the future space exploration systems.
Panel 1: Theory and Background While the terms such as "real options" and "spiral development" are used quite freely, they are terms that are often poorly defined. The underpinnings of these and related theories provide a rich framework for program management that is often overlooked. These development approaches can be quite powerful, but such utility is in large part a function of understanding their nature and in so doing, avoiding pitfalls in their use.
Panel 2: Development Methodology in Industry Real options, spiral development and other management approaches were first developed and implemented in the private sector. In some cases, the private sector has had great success in using alternate methodologies. More interestingly, the use of new approaches can increase access to capital and appeal to investors while mitigating risk.
Panel 3: Development in Government and Space Exploration As has been the experience with the application of these developmental approaches to the defense sector, attempts to apply what’s been learned in the defense sector without modification to the space sector have also met with mixed success. In this panel, we look at some of the obstacles and benefits of using novel development approaches in the context of space exploration.
Invitation