Leadership requires having the right people to be at the top of the management structure. The leadership must have the competency to lead the program, while delegating and empowering the people below them. There is also a great deal of commitment required from all team members. There must be forward planning for both the project commitments and potential consequences. The organization must have clear lines of responsibility and authority, with the empowerment and flexibility to adapt through the life-cycle stages of the project.
Training is also very important for understanding IPPD and team building.
And finally, it is important to integrate the government and contractor people into one group, while managing their very different cultures and objectives. Several driving factors forced the necessity to shorten the development time as compared to existing standards. There were congressional funding cuts early in the program, limiting weight restrictions, technologically advanced vehicle systems, high firing rate requirement, advanced cannon cooling system, fully digitized crew cockpit, and a need for improved reliability and maintainability over the current Paladin system. The traditional Department of Defense time-line for development of a system similar to the Crusader would take 12 to 15 years from requirement analysis through the testing of the first product. This project structure is very rigid and thoroughly documented.