ABSTRACT
The availability of advanced, autonomous technology is rapidly changing the face of the battleground. With adversaries now able to challenge traditional tactics with devices such as retail-purchased drones, our warfighters need to think differently as to what capability they need to bring to the fight and be able to be able to rapidly modify and adapt to continue to gain the advantage. This session will talk about the emerging global trend which is seeing a forward deployment of soldiers trained in software development, which can respond to mission needs and pivot outcomes in a dynamic fashion. During this presentation we will reflect on the lessons Microsoft’s Mission Co-Engineering have gained from building these capabilities across allied armed forces, and how we have adapted software development approaches from the private sector to approach such outcomes. During this presentation we’ll evaluate the different models tackling this concept. By evaluating the benefits and differences between software development factories producing core products vs. the need for forward deployed personnel to be able to actively modify and develop new capabilities, we can start to form a roadmap for commands that are looking at adopt similar methods and how they may be able to gain strategic advantage quicker based on lessons learned.

BIOGRAPHY
Lewis is the Director of Engineering for Microsoft’s Defence & Intelligence software engineering group. He is responsible for leading a team across Asia that helps advance the adoption of technology to solve novel industry problems via co-design, and co-engineering with our strategic customers. With over a decade in technology leadership, Lewis has worked on emerging technology problems across UK, US, and Australia ranging from Artificial Intelligence through to compliance policy working in some of the most challenging environments.