10.7 Summary
In this chapter, we discussed the direction of your organization and the forces that are vying with you for control over how your system develops and evolves in the face of a changing acquisition environment.
We presented the four main areas of concern for _managers:
Cost
Schedule
People
Performance
We also included some additional concerns, particularly for government managers.
The transition strategies you can use include the _following.
Prepare the people in your organization for the acquisition of open, COTS-based systems.
Define the processes to assist your transition to open, COTS-based systems.
Develop an overall transition strategy and plan.
Estimates, Anyone?
Let us leave you with something to think about. We emphasized the importance of planning and estimating cost and schedule and provided some rationale for possible schedule slippages and cost overruns. Managers often accept that, no matter how well they plan, cost and schedule will change. Keep in mind that the existence of cost and schedule overruns is relative to some projected value. What you may categorize time and again as overruns may actually be an estimate that is converging on the true number. As you hone your skills for dealing with the cost, schedule, people, and performance concerns presented by an open, COTS-based acquisition approach, learn from your experiences so that each time your estimates and methods for dealing with the concerns improve.