U.S. Air Force 2020

The Question

How can we work with Kessel Run to help the organization grow and improve the software used by the U.S. Air Force?

The Story

Kessel Run, the U.S. Air Force’s premier software factory located in Boston, MA, has been growing quickly—from a start-up to over 1,200 employees in just under 3 years. As a result, Kessel Run has been experiencing natural growing pains including an emerging internal bureaucracy and increasing technical complexity.

After more than 40 interviews with Kessel Run and Department of Defense employees, our team arrived at a surprising conclusion: software is not the answer. We decided we wanted to solve a culture problem that required a people-centered solution. We found that the best way to help Kessel Run deliver software faster and better was to standardize their onboarding practices and help them launch an annual Hackathon.