“Sitting” at the intersection of tech innovation and the DoD: my first few weeks at Kessel Run

About the author: Toni Friedman ’21 is an FSI Global Policy Intern with Kessel Run. She is currently a Master’s in International Policy student at Stanford University.

As someone whose primary professional experience has been charity management, I was a little nervous my first morning waking up and logging into to join my first orientation zoom meeting at Kessel Run (as “Detachment 12, Air Force Life Cycle Management Center” is colloquially known), a tech organization within the DoD. Jumping in on zoom without being able to first get a feel of the space did not help (see picture of me minutes before my first zoom from my bedroom in Stanford student housing before the sun had risen.)

However, I needn’t have felt so nervous, because as it turns out, I ended up in one of the best places to crash-course learn about both domains — tech company culture and work within the DoD. The highlight of my time as a Product Manager Intern so far has been all the people who have been willing to reach out and talk me through an interesting tech problem, the nuances behind a challenging business decision for a product, or debate one of the start-up frameworks that Kessel Run is adapting to the space of the DoD. (I also lucked out and got assigned to the best team for learning and mentorship, which I am so so grateful for!)

This culture of learning is, in fact, a crucial component of what distinguishes KR as an organization. Kessel Run was established three years ago within the Air Force and streamlines the notoriously convoluted DoD acquisitions process by using Silicon Valley frameworks like AGILE and balanced teams.

As I move forward, I’m excited to get to do more and more hands-on work that falls in the domain of a product manager — facilitating meetings, strategizing with developers and designers, writing stories — as well as getting to shadow other teams. Of course, I wish I could meet all my new teammates in person, but it’s also been an interesting experience in its own right to see Kessel Run, which leans so much on collaboration, adapt to these challenging circumstances. Stay tuned!

Random thoughts:

- The first few couples meetings, there were so many acronyms thrown around that I momentarily doubted my own ability to understand the English language. BUT I can now proudly say that this sentence makes sense to me: Let’s get validation on the TSA QC process from the SIAs at the next PSR, so we can DNF feature sets for the backlog before pushing our next deployment! (Can I join SHIELD now?)

- I’ve found the role of the “Product Manager” to be tricky to pin down, but after talking to PMs all across the Kessel Run, I’ve gotten some great insights to what the role means. My favorite analogies so far: “the fulcrum balancing business and design,” “the storyteller of the team,” and “the umbrella that shields everyone else from the muck.”

Disclosure: The expressions and opinions here are my own and do not reflect the policies or views of the Department of Defense, U.S. Air Force or Detachment 12, AFLCMC.