REVISITING THE R&D PROJECT MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGIES FOR DEFENSE R&D PROJECTS: AN AHP-BASED MULTI-CRITERIA METHODOLOGY SELECTION MODEL PROPOSAL

Project management methodology selection is a crucial part of a project and directly or indirectly affects the project's success. The traditional, agile methodology, or hybrid project management (PM) methodologies have unique superior or challenging characteristics. At the same time, none provide an absolute advantage that can apply to various industrial and technological contexts. On the other hand, the defense industry has been among the early adopters of contemporary project management, and there are still discussions on the adaptability of agile or hybrid approaches to the complex, large-scale, and multi-actor landscape of defense R&D projects. This study proposes a selection model for project management methodology in Defense Industry R&D projects, with a case study on a Turkish defense hardware producer. After a narrative of the defense industry, an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) decision model for project management methodology selection is designed by critical success factors derived from the literature. The decision model presents these factors as selection criteria and their importance levels and then explores the performance of waterfall, agile and hybrid methodologies by each criterion. PM professionals from defense industry R&D units provided the scores by an expert survey. The findings revealed that hybrid methodology is the most appropriate option in many defense R&D projects by responding to the reliability and testing requirements, evolving technology, and business needs while sustaining customer collaboration. The study contributes to theory and practice by providing a criterion set and a hierarchical factor structure tailored for the PM methodology selection in defense R&D projects.