Just like the NASA rule that requirements should be unambiguous, these tips urges engineers to be mindful of words with multiple definitions and phrases with subtle shades of meaning. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. One burning question weighs on Lt. Col. Burton’s mind: How could the BFV have passed an artillery test with flying colors? The conclusion to draw from this cover-up? I watched is several times and it always makes me smile. So, not a comedy, but a movie that is almost scarily faithful to the reality of DoD procurement. The story told in the movie is embellished — though not by much. You can practically feel his unique mix of panic and delusion as he attempts to explain away the many failures of the BFV. At the beginning of the BFV project, in 1968, the engineers show off a fairly simple design. How to Waste Other People's Money and Survive to Waste Some More of It! Authors and engineers like vagueness for a similar reason: It gives them the illusion of greater freedom of interpretation down the road. Adding insult to injury, the official who oversaw this disaster of a project gets a promotion. And don’t forget the ammunition that’s been emptied out and filled with sand. “Which national forest laid down its life for this one?” asks Sergeant First Class Fanning (Viola Davis) poetically. When the aluminum exterior was hit by a shell, it burned and gave off a toxic gas. Which other components will this component interface with? Now, part of the trouble with the BFV’s impracticality arose from a stubborn refusal to test it. That’s just the beginning, of course — but it’s an essential step. We get a glimpse into the chaos and confusion that went on during the design and prototyping of the BFV in a hilarious montage. Good rule of thumb: If you don’t want to run tests on your product out of fear that the test itself will annihilate your product … you need to re-examine your requirements. Since most requirements documents are written in natural language, these ultimately meaningless terms can easily slip into the text. The logic checks out: With seemingly unlimited budgets and obscure oversight hierarchies, it’s no wonder flashiness trumped practicality when the BFV was designed. Since the film deals with the creation of a combat vehicle — that is, a weapon for war — it’s all the more obvious that requirements document writers must create rules that are fully functional and completely free of design details. But no good deed goes unpunished: in the fallout, Major General Partridge — who was completely blase about the real-life casualties that could be caused by his negligence — was promoted. Right? The Pentagon Wars does far more than critique a broken system, it shows numerous examples of programs that worked and suggests clear steps to make the weapons procurement process more transparent and analytical. Let’s just say — that country isn’t exactly known for the potency of its artillery. Looking at the rest of the film through this lens, we understand that the Army isn’t a place where “out of the box” thinkers are rewarded. Such words seem, on their surface, to lend an easy flow and accessibility to the document. But the reason Burton’s doing things this way isn’t his personal preference for flashiness. Ehh... not so much. He’s finally being taken to task for his bad faith supervision of the BFV project — some $14 billion and 17 years later. It’s tricked out with “the most sophisticated surveillance equipment,” as well as a rapid-fire cannon, an anti-tank rocket launcher with 1,500 shells and 10 tow anti-tank missiles. Some military leaders care more about moving up the ladder than protecting the lives of men & women who risk their lives for our country. The speed of the service was brilliant thanks to all. Don’t let the sheep die! This scene delivers the perfect illustration of why rationale statements — or the explanations and justifications that illuminate design reasoning — are absolutely vital. Standard test data accumulation.”. When questioned about the need for more eyes on the BFV testing process, Major General Partridge offers the flimsy (and elitist) explanation: “It takes people with sophisticated knowledge and expertise to conduct these tests and to interpret the results. Yep, smart money says it’s from a horribly miswritten requirements document. Whoa, whoa, whoa. It was not unusual for this movie to be re-shown, by student request, one or more afternoons as well, with gales of laughter accompanying note taking on the lessons cleverly embedded in the movie. In the ‘70s, Army officials couldn’t leave well enough alone. Funding from Newfund Capital, Innovacorp, and BDC Capital will power QRA’s mission to help product designers safely and correctly build the products of tomorrow. For all its strengths, the organization is sometimes riddled with cronyism, red tape, and a pervasive rat race toward promotions and pensions. And it is "real." But in practice — the BFV was known to be extremely weak, very vulnerable, and abundantly flammable. Throughout The Pentagon Wars, several themes echo, forming a common thread suggesting institutional incompetence and an endless passing of the buck. If you’ve seen the hilarious cult classic film The Pentagon Wars, you know the answer: It’s the infamous Bradley Fighting Vehicle (BFV). Of the many idiotic and ludicrous lines that Major General Partridge has in The Pentagon Wars, perhaps the best is: “Whatever problems there are, we’ll fix them in the field … after it’s deployed. That said, it’s no surprise when we learn that the developers of the BFV broke a cardinal rule of requirements engineering: You must evaluate the requirements document with a diverse team. Ideally, of course, you prevent these headaches by using a proven requirements template, a specifications checklist, and a solid compliance plug-in from the get-go. When creating the requirements document, it’s important to think about whether the component will interface with third-party supplier systems. That’s why we strongly advocate the use of a consistent requirements template. The Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge the Old Guard James Burton, Author US Naval Institute Press $36.95 (306p) ISBN 978-1-55750-081-6. Movies. To phrase it simply: State what the system must do, not how it must do it. Col Burton was appointed by Congress as an outsider to oversee the testing of new weapons in development, including the Bradley.… Wouldn’t you just love to be a soldier/guinea pig/sitting duck tooling around in a completely un-battle tested Bradley fighting vehicle? Further, 79 percent of said projects come in over time and over budget andconsume over 41.5 percent of the new project development resources on poorly specified requirements. For fifteen years I taught IT system acquisition at National Defense University for the Department of Defense, to senior uniformed and civilian leadership. In other words: requirements document failures lead to project execution mishap whack-a-mole. The incident clues Lt. Col. Burton into a sobering truth: His own subordinates are taking advantage of vague and amorphous requirements specifications in order to manipulate test results to their advantage. The lieutenant colonel is attempting a workaround for a problem that stemmed from poor requirements engineering choices. Since the BFV was designed without exception scenarios (i.e., electric hot plate add-ons) in mind — the temperature of the vehicle was so high that it could have fried an egg at 20 feet. But it’s absolutely essential to anticipate as many exception scenarios as possible. Rules 2 and 3 — concerning the use of proper hierarchies and clean identifiers — stem from Rule 1. The Pentagon Wars movie trailer - Genre: Comedy - Rating: R Lt. Col. Burton decides to correct this error by ordering a full battery of tests simulating combat conditions. A well-acted performances, yet hard to believe subject. The Pentagon Wars is a 1998 HBO military comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin and based on the book The Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge the Old Guard by Colonel James G. Burton, United States Air Force. Watch The Pentagon Wars movie trailers, exclusive videos, interviews from the cast, movie clips and more at TVGuide.com. Will use this company again, Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 7, 2014. Obviously, there’s pressure at the peer and organizational level to cover up the extreme unsuitability of the BFV. Whoever murdered these reams of paper didn’t even have a clear purpose! The gauntlet … or at least the mannequin head … is thrown! Included with HBO on Amazon for $14.99/month. For an easy way to do so, download our handy Guide & Checklist, which offers a quick summary of all 21 tips, as well as a compliance checklist. The Pentagon Wars (1998) ... 'Body Brokers' Trailer 'The Reckoning' Clip: "Redeem Your Soul" 'No Man's Land' Trailer. I agree with another reviewer that this movie is not comedy but a sad reality of the DoD procurement process. It’s obvious why this happened. As we follow the time-jump narrative of The Pentagon Wars, we start to wonder one thing: How could so many competent army officials come to the same seemingly ridiculous conclusion about the efficacy of the BFV? But unfortunately, his evaluation is thwarted — knowing that the test is likely to lead to a fiery explosion, test officials (acting under orders from Major General Partridge) strip the dummies and place their clothes in a fireproof container. When Lt. Col. Burton confronts Major General Partridge with his concern that the BFV doesn’t suit its end users’ needs very well — he meets understandable resistance. Amazingly, these two are also the most straightforward directives. When designing the BFV, engineers broke an important rule of requirements: They failed to consider how the implementation of requirements would be verified. It’s critical for engineers to consider a thorough analysis of the needs of all potential stakeholders who will interact with the system. So, not only were constant spur-of-the-moment improvisations required in order to keep the vehicle (barely) functional, but users had to make quick high-stakes calculations weighing out the risks and benefits of doing so. [vi] Videos: Reasons Projects Fail (n.d.), https://www.iag.biz/resource/small-projects-service-video/, Retrieved January 28, 2018. That’s the way things are done around here.”. Amazingly, nobody thought to do this before he came along. Sergeant First Class Fanning (Viola Davis), who acts as Lt. Col. Burton’s confidant throughout the film, brands the BFV “a troop transport that can’t carry troops; a reconnaissance vehicle that’s too conspicuous to do reconnaissance; and a quasi-tank that has less armor than a snowblower, but has enough ammo to take out half of D.C.”. Thanks to compounded errors over time, users of the BFV faced a real survival threat, as the vehicle that was designed to protect them from enemy fire did nothing of the sort. According to a report from IAG Consulting, when there’s a problem with the requirements specifications document, companies spend 49 percent more money and take 39 percent more time to deliver applications. You laugh … until you have the sobering thought that his buffoonish errors could translate to real casualties in the theater of war. 1:00 The Pentagon Wars. Anyway, I thought that this was a very good movie. Remember to include a cover page, section headings, essential guidelines for the content in each section, and a brief explanation of your version management system. He’s not completely right — there is something to show for that time. As Lt. Col. Burton figures out the extent of the mess he’s inherited with the BFV, he realizes that functional requirements must define precisely what the system needs to do, and non-functional requirements must define precisely what the system must be. In one running gag, we learn that intra-office communication can be so bad within the Pentagon that officers often find out about their colleagues’ projects only through leaks to the media. Colonel Bach (John C. McGinley) is looking pretty desperate to get those sheep on board the BFV. A time-saving guide for system engineers and requirements analysts. Major General Partridge’s ineptitude regarding the BFV is hilariously out-of-touch. Good movie. Sounds like a case of vague requirements. We notice that there appears to be a vast conspiracy to look the other way on the vehicle’s many failures. The Pentagon Wars is a 1998 HBO comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin and based on the book The Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge … For example, the vehicle was ordered into production with an aluminum exterior. Thought that this was a really good movie, for I do remember the problems that the Bradley Fighting Vehicle was going through and the controversy as well. This is just the light side of what happens when rationales are abandoned. Go on — hop inside this armored vehicle. During a particularly hilarious flashback of how the BFV developed over several decades, we learn a bit about the personality clashes and one-upmanship that yielded the cluttered and ineffective fighting vehicle that exists in the movie’s present. After overseeing a project with massive cost overruns and very questionable outcomes, Col. Robert Smith (Richard Schiff) gets … a promotion to general! It also analyzes reviews to verify trustworthiness. This is critical in helping prevent conflict between requirements later, should incompatibility or implementation problems arise. It’s clear from the dialogue and the on-screen action that the BFV was a victim of bureaucratic power plays, system-wide inefficiency, and a case of good old-fashioned “too many cooks in the kitchen” syndrome. Again, this represents a major requirements document faux pas. With Kelsey Grammer, Cary Elwes, Viola Davis, John C. McGinley. NASA published the following “quality attributes” that every successful requirements document should possess[7]: For more on those, we wrote an in-depth report on the 21 most important engineering tips for writing an exceptionally clear requirements document. Just have to mount a massive platform directly on top of your target and get your enemy to hold very still. Watch The Pentagon Wars movie trailer and get the latest cast info, photos, movie review and more on TVGuide.com. The BFV — an armored troop transport unit tasked with shielding its occupants from enemy fire while offering offensive capabilities — it actually exists in the real world. To say that those are terrible odds for a piece of American combat equipment may be the understatement of the year. Before Lt. Col. Burton’s arrival on the BFV project, one thing seems sorely lacking across the board: empathy. [1][2][3][4], And, as Ralph Rowland Young notes in The Requirements Engineering Handbook, “Errors that originate in requirements tend to be the most expensive and troublesome to eliminate later.” Put even more simply: “More than half of all defects can be traced to requirements errors.”[5], The numbers are sobering. Related rules: Don’t Use Weak Words, Avoid Passive Voice, Use Negative Requirements Sparingly, Define Compatibility, Avoid Using Slash (/) Symbols. as Lt. Col. James Burton. It bears repeating: Always account for exceptions, deviations, and unexpected scenarios when writing requirements. This stuff really happens (although the movie makes heroes and villains out of the players—it’s never that simplistic). And also: a massive tension headache. Here’s a riddle for you: Definitely include any designers and developers who will be implementing the requirements to create the system. In fact, it made them more conspicuous to combatants, while also creating a new danger of collateral damage. Much of the comedy in the movie stems from Major General Partridge (Kelsey Grammer) — the undisputed “bad guy” of the story — and the way he obfuscates, fudges, and outright fibs his way through his professional life. But wait a minute … is that Romanian writing? The Pentagon Wars is available to watch, stream, download and buy on demand at HBO Max, Amazon, Google Play, Apple TV … The case for a clear version management system: In this montage in The Pentagon Wars, Lt. Col. Burton’s report “evolves” from the original sentence: “The Bradley test standards have been consistently altered in extreme ways” to “The Bradley tests have been extremely consistent. Finally, include engineers who design, maintain, or manage other systems that will support or interact with the new system, as well as end-user representatives and the client team. The easiest, most qualitative thing that Major General Partridge could have done to streamline the creation of the BFV was to start with a clean, organized, and logical requirements document. Read all about it: Pentagon officials often get their news via the newspaper in this movie. Next, we see a series of change orders whose flimsy justification consists of no more than a passing thought of “Wouldn’t it be cool if …?” Spitballing around a table, the uniformed men debate the merits of various add-ons: scouts, radar, increased opticals, portholes on the side for increased firearms, a turret, and 25mm shells. Field testers intentionally used extremely weak Romanian shells (“Romania was part of the Soviet bloc,” one sheepishly explains.). “The ammunition doesn’t work!” says Lt. Col. Burton. The random chagrined soldier at the end of this GIF is all of us. Overview of Pentagon Wars, The, 1998, directed by Richard Benjamin, with Christopher Grove, James Dumont, Brian Carroll, at Turner Classic Movies The Pentagon Wars describes the extreme wastefulness that resulted from the highly convoluted and inefficient development process of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. This episode drives home an important point about organizing your requirements document. Cary Elwes. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 26, 2014, Very pleased with the dvd, exactly what I wanted. If the U.S. Army acted on the advice of every Tom, Dick, and Harry who had an opinion on these matters, we’d wind up with a bunch of B-52s powered by outboard motors.”. IF I could get them to the right bases and programs I'd buy ten more. Learn from Bach’s mistake: Make sure your requirements are easily testable. It’s not “sexy” to brainstorm all the different ways that your project could go wrong if even the slightest condition changes. You definitely want to avoid endless rounds of haphazard permanent marker scratch-outs. Watch trailers, read customer and critic reviews, and buy The Pentagon Wars directed by Richard Benjamin for $9.99. Pentagon Wars - Bradley Fighting Vehicle Evolution - YouTube All that the engineers had to go on were loosely arranged ideas, a vague sketch, and a heavy helping of self-congratulatory speeches. The Pentagon Wars offers an extremely relevant argument for this rule. The compound effect of these issues means that you’re often better off going “back to the drawing board,” as it were, and fixing the problems of your requirements document, rather than trying to modify the live project on the fly. It’s not about being mushy; from a practical standpoint, it’s extremely important that engineers understand how an application will be used and maintained. The sobering thought that both Kelsey Grammer, Cary Elwes... get ready to laugh implementation! 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