Should Tron Even Exist?
The truth is that there are a million brands in the digital arena now, and the vast majority are doing incredible work. Between all of them, we have come into an identity crisis.
I have been asked many times over the past year the common but surprisingly difficult question: What is Tron?
Are we a mobility air forces software factory? Kind of, but not really. Our initial products were heavily focused on bringing value to the squadrons in the Mobility Air Forces and associated supporting functional areas, but that was more a function of who founded the organization, not so much a function of why we even exist. Besides, there is a way cooler team that handles this at Scott called Conjure, and they are actively changing the game for Air Mobility Command.
Are we a software factory at all? Kind of, but not really. Yes, we have double-digit microservices in development. Yes, we have walked the Platform One Continuous Authority to Operate (ATO) path top to bottom (self-register at this link to learn more). Yes, we have an accredited production presence with over 1,000 users, and that number is continuing to grow despite the reality that we clearly are still in our early stages and do not have "finished" products (huge shoutout to Christian Brechbuhl, Kelsey Dees, and Stephen Heptig on that front). Yes, we intend to keep some (but not all) of these projects internally managed by this amorphous thing call Tron. But we do not exist for the ultimate outcome of translating hundreds of programmatic requirements into hundreds of applications.
Are we a DevSecOps platform team? Kind of, but not really. We work extremely close with the Platform One team to build something that has mutual benefit to both organizations.
Are we an innovation cell? Kind of, but not really. Our goals are very aligned with innovation cells, but highly focused on enablement in the digital arena.
Are we a wing-level software cell? Kind of, but not really. Yes, we have arguably the most productive wing-level teams in the DoD with our pioneers at the 15th Wing, partnership expansion with the 437th Airlift Wing, collaboration with Platform One, AMC, McGuire, Travis, Hickam, and multiple other bases to launch & operationalize a secure messaging version of Mattermost, launch of both USAF and USSF software development immersive courses, contract buildout and execution for hardening & launching a customizable learning management system for the DoD, and extreme focus on changing squadron culture to value digital talent, but as an organization, Tron is not a software cell.
So then what is our "turf"? Honestly I despise the fact that this question even exists, but it is a reality of the world we live in. We really have no desire to be in competition with our gov partners, yet somehow we continually seem to be "solving the same problems" or "stepping on someone else's toes."
Time and time again we have struggled to answer this question, and I believe that we have struggled because we have been focusing too much on that question itself, and not the real motivation behind the question: Why does Tron even exist? The truth is that there are a million brands in the digital arena now, and the vast majority are doing incredible work. Between all of them, we have constantly come into an identity crisis. Does it make more sense to simply dissolve Tron into the litany of other brands across the DoD?
As we have gone back, spent significant time trying to rebrand, refocus, reorganize, and intentionally build something that builds up our government rather than unintentionally tearing it apart, we realized that our "why" is inherently cross-functional, yet extremely focused on a cultural outcome, which describes why we do not fit neatly into any of those categories...but also why Tron is here to stay.
Fundamentally we have three beliefs that permeate every decision that we make; these are what make Tron, well, Tron:
Our Core Values:
The people of the United States of America deserve military and government leadership who can effectively communicate, understand, and lead in a world dominated by software & technology.
This technological talent is curated best by empowering individuals who are passionate and purpose-driven in digital service towards their country.
There is no reason to wait to be promoted before believing you can have an impact.
These values motivate our mission and vision:
Mission
We seek to build a government-wide cadre of digitally-enabled servicemembers and civilians through open, extensible, and mission-obsessed software.
Vision
Success to us means creating an environment within the US military and government at large where any servicemember or government civilian can become educated and enabled to contribute to the software that runs their lives & the lives of the people they represent, whether through code, product ownership, design, or elsewhere, in a manner that brings programmatic decision authority to the people who are closest to the mission.
In order to tangibly implementing the above, we are moving to fully embrace a new business model: Tron will be an end-to-end government enablement and prototype accelerator foundation, inherently collaborative in nature, starting with our US Air Force.
At our core, our values & mission motivate a model much more in-line with venture capital accelerators. However, rather than accelerating companies through education and product mentorship, we will accelerate internal digital talent through education and product mentorship. Our investment won't be money, it will be time, training, and mentorship. Our payback expectation won't be long-term temporary duty assignments (TDYs); it will be building a community--if you work with Tron, the expectation is that, on the backside of any pipeline, you give back to a community (e.g., AirmenCoders, MarineCoders, SupraCoders, Aloha Spark, Phoenix Spark, AFWERX, etc.). This way, we will insidiously scale talent across the government. Our pipelines won't simply educate, they will be end-to-end; intentionally designed to produce fully digitally-adept government members with an ability to contribute to production systems...at scale.
We won't use third party platforms; day 1, each member will build with the goal of production in mind (e.g., via Platform One). Prototypes will be on government weapons information systems’ (WIS) staging environments (e.g., Platform One Staging)…and yes, I did just coin a new term WIS (see Dr. Roper’s vision for an explanation of why we must view military IT as weapons systems). Mission applications will be on WIS production environments (e.g., Advanced Battle Management System’s All-Domain Common Environments).
If we are successful, the concept of Shadow IT created by "rogue apps" will cease to exist. We will intentionally work with our industry partners to build telemetry & analytics solutions that identify applications with high value propositions. Some will be supported by Tron if they can show an extreme cross-functional potential to bring 10,000 users or more into the ecosystem; others will transition to a factory home based on functional areas.
Ultimately, through this focus on internal talent, we intend to flip the way that the government invests in software, from being powerpoint and assumption-laden process to emphasizing a data-driven, experimental approach. Money won't be allocated until an idea shows promise through validated prototypes, not through hypothetical powerpoint assumptions. Industry partners won't be handed an assumption-laden specification, they will have a validated requirement in production with existing users and a government champion from day one. Rather than building an incentive for programs to last forever because they are the only option, we will intentionally encourage open-source yet competing products...as long as they connect to the same backend data structures and APIs. When inevitably an application "loses" to another, we will only sunset the compute & storage costs; not the users or the talent. Rather, we will work to find new homes for our digital servicemembers & civilians to continue to bring value in the most effective manner.
And above all, we will encourage our new digital force to be open and vocal about their diversity & talents, not afraid that their desire to pursue a digital career will ostracize them from their current communities or remove any chance at promotion. Only once this culture shift has been normalized will we have a fighting chance of maintaining U.S. relevancy on a global scale.