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Fearless
Organizational fear spreads when mistakes, compliance failures, or dissent trigger disproportionate punishment and reputational damage. Psychological safety enables people to speak up, challenge assumptions, and act responsibly without abandoning accountability. Assertiveness must be balanced by respect, fidelity, teamwork, and customer focus. Leaders create fearless cultures by aligning authority, decision rights, rewards, and daily behavior.
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The Urgency of Defense Aviation Modernization
On January 29, 2025, a mid-air collision involving an American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near DCA led to the loss of 67 lives. The incident highlights longstanding issues in modernizing avionics, specifically the lack of Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) technology, necessitating urgent reforms in funding and equipment modernization. (Cover Photo…
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A Call to Action via Modular Collaboration
Practice makes perfect, well, sort of. Unfortunately, very few technical professions take the word “practice” literally. I have always considered it uncomfortably necessary to think of a doctor as having a “practice”, yet am comforted by two things: first that the doctor is constantly learning and second that my situation has the potential to be slightly…
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The Paradox of Quick Learning: A Journey of Continuous Diligence
This article is reposted and expanded (slightly) from the original on my LinkedIn profile, here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/paradox-quick-learning-journey-continuous-diligence-john-stough-slvje/ I have been accused in the past, in fact the very recent past, of being a “quick learner”. This would be a mistaken label, I fear, and I would offer some advice to save you from a perilous journey…
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Software Architecture Book Published!
Last fall I had the privilege of joining the world’s foremost researchers in Software Architecture at the International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA) Lite. The results of our time together were collected and we continued to collaborate over the next several months remotely. I am honored to be listed amongst the authors of the newly…
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Acquire Like You Fight: DAU MOSA Series
In August of 2023 I was invited to be the guest speaker for the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) “Let’s Be Modular and Open Series” of talks. Here is the video of that webinar (direct link) Let’s Be Modular and Open Webinar – MOSA Implementation with PEO Aviation | www.dau.edu Description: DoD MOSA is an integrated business…
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My Brief at the 2022 Defense Standardization Program
In the fall of 2022 I was invited to speak on behalf of PEO Aviation at the Defense Standardization Program (DSP) conference. My remarks begin at just after 23 minutes into the video, below, following the PEO Ground Combat Systems presentation and is followed by open Q&A.
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Enterprise Architecture for the World’s Largest Aviation Fleet
I recently had the privilege of publishing an article on the Architecture & Governance magazine for our work in Army PEO Aviation. Read it here:https://www.architectureandgovernance.com/elevating-ea/enterprise-architecture-for-the-worlds-largest-aviation-fleet/
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The Whole Team Owns The Whole Product
This is a story about a software team. I feel like it applies to many teams, since I have adapted the principle to other startup concepts, beyond software startups to include church planting and the coffee industry. Nonetheless, it began for me with software teamwork. It has, over time and application to much broader domains,…
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A Holistic Approach to Open Systems Architecture for Army Aviation
Preamble: I had the privilege to present in Philadelphia for the 75th anniversary of the Vertical Flight Society (VFS). Unfortunately, I cannot share this paper on my site because it is part of the proceedings of the VFS, however, below is the link to the technical paper itself on the Forum75 website. Note that I…
