Why Aerospace and Defense Programs Go Off Track — And How to Fix It

By Eugene de Klerk

Let’s start with a familiar scene. A senior program leader in an aerospace company is preparing for a review. The stakes are high. Millions are on the line. Deadlines are tight. They ask a simple question:

“Where are we really at?”

The answer is anything but simple. One team pulls data from an ERP system. Another sends a spreadsheet. Engineering has its own view in PLM. Finance has slightly different numbers again.

None of it quite lines up. Sound familiar?

The Hidden Problem: Manifestation of Complexity

Most aerospace and defense (A&D) organizations didn’t design this complexity. It grew over time. New tools were added. Teams built their own processes. Legacy systems stayed in place.

Today, it’s normal for a large organization to run hundreds, even thousands, of applications. ERP, finance, HR, CRM, simulation. PLM for engineering. Separate tools for scheduling, estimating, and reporting. And spreadsheets everywhere.

Each system may function effectively in isolation, but they are not always designed to work together as part of a connected whole. As a result, data becomes trapped in silos, workflows fragment, and decision-making slows down.

From a systems perspective, this contributes to the manifestation of complexity as a co-produced condition — not simply caused by technology itself, but emerging through the interaction between disconnected systems, processes, organisational structures, and human decision-making.

As Russ Ackoff and later Dave Snowden highlight in different ways, optimisation of individual components does not necessarily optimise the system as a whole. In many cases, it can increase coordination overhead, reduce visibility, and create unintended complexity across the enterprise.

Fragmented Visibility Limits Organisational Navigation

Now imagine trying to manage not just one project, but a portfolio of them. Dozens of programs. Shared resources. Dependencies everywhere. Without a clear, joined-up view, leaders are left guessing. Which program is at risk? Where are we overcommitted? What should we prioritize?

Decisions are too often made at the program or functional level with limited insight into how those decisions will influence the wider system. Optimising individual parts in isolation can unintentionally create inefficiencies, delays, or instability elsewhere across the enterprise.

When visibility is fragmented and understanding of system interdependencies is limited, the organisation begins to drift rather than adapt coherently as an integrated whole.

Why Projects Slip (Even When Teams Work Hard)

Here’s the uncomfortable truth. Most A&D organizations don’t struggle because of poor effort. They struggle because of poor visibility. When systems, programs, and functions are viewed in isolation, it becomes extremely difficult to understand how the enterprise is actually operating as a whole.

Decisions may appear rational locally, but without visibility into interdependencies and system-wide effects, organizations lose the ability to effectively sense, coordinate, and navigate complexity.

Projects go over budget.
Schedules slip.
Margins erode.

And by the time the problem is clear, it’s already expensive to fix. Why? Because the warning signs were buried in disconnected systems.

The People Problem No One Can Ignore

At the same time, there’s another challenge quietly growing. Skills are disappearing. Experienced engineers retire. New talent is hard to find. Critical knowledge walks out the door.

Now layer that on top of poor visibility. You don’t just have fewer people. You also don’t know where to best deploy them. So, some teams are overloaded. Others are underused. And the organization never quite hits its stride.

Supply Chains: One Weak Link Changes Everything

Then there’s the supply chain. In A&D, you often depend on a small number of specialist suppliers. If one of them slips, everything slips. A delayed component becomes a delayed program. Without joined-up planning, these risks are hard to see coming. And even harder to manage when they hit.

Compliance: The Non-Negotiable Layer

Now add regulation. Every part must be traceable. Every process must be auditable. There’s no room for error. But when systems don’t talk to each other, compliance becomes harder than it needs to be. Teams spend time chasing data instead of analyzing it. Reports take longer. Audit trails are harder to prove.

The Bigger Issue: Complexity Itself

Step back for a moment. What you’re really dealing with here is complexity. Not complicated. Complex. There’s a difference.

As Russ Ackoff explained, organizations often try to break problems into smaller parts and solve them one by one. That works for simple systems. But not for complex ones, where everything is interconnected.

Dave Snowden made a similar point. In complex environments, you can’t always predict outcomes in advance. You learn by acting, observing, and adapting.

That’s exactly the world A&D operates in.

So, What Actually Works?

Let’s go back to that program leader. What would make their life easier? Not more reports. Not more spreadsheets. What they need is clarity. They need to see the whole picture. In one place. In real time. This is where good project portfolio management (PPM) comes in.

Because once leaders can see the system as a connected whole rather than as fragmented parts, they can begin to understand patterns, relationships, constraints, and emerging risks across the enterprise. They are no longer reacting blindly to isolated events. They can probe, learn, adapt, and respond with far greater coherence.

In complex environments, the ability to navigate does not come from more control — it comes from better visibility, shared understanding, and the capacity to continuously sense and respond to the system as it evolves.

A Different Way to Run the Business

Think of modern PPM as a connective layer. It doesn’t replace your systems. It connects them. It pulls together data from:

• ERP

• Engineering tools

• Resource systems

• Financial platforms

And turns it into something usable. Now, instead of asking five teams for updates, you have one version of the truth.

More importantly, they can begin to understand how decisions in one area influence outcomes in another. This creates the conditions for effective navigation — the ability to sense emerging issues early, understand system-wide impacts, coordinate responses across functions, and adapt continuously as conditions change.

What Changes When It Works

When PPM is done well, things start to shift. You can see across the entire portfolio. Not just individual projects. You spot risks earlier. You understand dependencies. You make decisions faster.

You Start Planning, Not Reacting

Instead of firefighting, you can run scenarios. What happens if a supplier fails? What if we move resources between programs? What’s the financial impact? You test options before making decisions. (Probe sense and respond), building resilience.

With a clear view of demand and capacity, you can deploy your workforce more effectively. The right people work on the right programs. Not by guesswork. By data.

You Become More Resilient

Here’s the real shift. You stop trying to predict everything perfectly. And instead, you become better at adapting. When disruption hits—and it will—you respond faster. That’s what resilience looks like in practice.

And What About AI?

Everyone is talking about AI. But here’s the catch. AI is only as good as the data behind it. If your data is fragmented, AI won’t fix the problem. It will amplify it.

Integrated PPM creates the foundation AI needs. Clean data. Connected systems. Consistent structures. Only then does AI become useful. To help you probe sense and respond to complexity which will surely manifest.

Bringing It All Together with Cora

This is exactly the space where Cora Systems operates.

It’s not just another project tool. It’s an enterprise platform designed to connect everything.

Randy VanDerStarren, Manager of Project Management Office at MDS Aero, put it like this:

“We chose Cora because it offers more than just a project management tool, delivering an enterprise level platform with the depth, configurability, and flexibility we need to drive long-term efficiency. We believe it will help achieve a 10% reduction in our operational execution costs. The ability to connect project data across our project operations and engineering departments, while configuring the system to our specific workflows, made Cora the clear strategic choice for MDS.”

That’s not just theory. It’s real impact.

Another Cora client in the A&D sector increased workforce productivity by 25%, saving time for 3,000 employees, after implementing its Cora platform. That’s progress.

The Bottom Line

Aerospace and defense organizations aren’t short on talent. Or effort. What they’re missing is connection. Between systems. Between teams. Between data and decisions.

Fix that, and everything else improves. And in a world where complexity is only increasing, that connection isn’t a luxury. It’s the difference between staying on track—and constantly trying to catch up.

About the Author

Eugene de Klerk is VP Partnerships at Cora Systems.