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Software factories have emerged as part of U.S. Department of the Air Force (DAF) efforts to modernize software acquisition and development practices. Software factories were cited by DAF stakeholders as one type of entity within the DAF in which specific types and levels of digital talent (both military and civilian) would likely be needed, but the specific requirements had still not been identified. In fiscal year (FY) 2020, the DAF established a Digital Talent Taskforce to help define DAF talent needs, including developing requirements and competencies for digital talent. To support the taskforce's efforts, the authors conducted a case study to identify digital talent needs in the area of software development by exploring DAF software factories that use modern and agile software development practices.

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Section 1652 of the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) tasks the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to perform a zero-based review (ZBR) - a detailed review rather than a simple comparison with previous size or budget - of its cybersecurity and information technology (IT) workforces. DoD engaged the RAND National Defense Research Institute to produce a process for validating and ensuring the consistency of data and analysis used for its ZBR. The authors organize the NDAA requirements into five themes: current workforce, current work performed, manning and capability gaps, potential barriers to efficiency and effectiveness, and potential future changes in work performed or requirements. Organizations across the four DoD services - the U.S. Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy - plus the Defense Information Systems Agency were selected to participate in the DoD cyber ZBR. Collectively, the participating organizations reported a total of almost 18,000 cybersecurity and IT personnel, 84 percent of whom are civilians and 16 percent of whom are military personnel. The authors use quantitative and qualitative research methods to analyze multiple data sources, such as DoD workforce data, subject-matter expert interviews with organizational leadership, a work analysis data call, a comparison of DoD and private sector cyber workforces, and a sample of cybersecurity and IT position descriptions. They present key findings, aggregated across the participating organizations and arranged by theme. The ZBR process described in this report constitutes a transparent, repeatable process with which DoD can conduct ZBRs across the DoD cyber enterprise.

Computer security --- Employee retention --- Cyberspace operations (Military science) --- Employees --- United States. --- United States. --- Civilian employees --- Personnel management