Get to know the ATIS assistant product manager

Maj. Cliff Parry got his first taste of acquisitions while serving as a civil affairs requirements officer for the Army Special Operations Command. “I was a civil affairs officer surrounded by a slew of acquistion officers,“ Parry said about his decision to join the Acquisition Corps. “Anything that gets into the hands of a Soldier goes through an acquisition officer. No other job offers that opportunity.“

Parry, assistant product manager for the Army Training Information System (ATIS), is leading a team developing the Army's future training management system.

A Colorado native, Parry joined the Army after graduating from the University of Northern Colorado with a bachelor’s degree in sports medicine.  His 11 years of Army service have included deployments to Afghanistan as a battle captain and Niger and Somalia as a civil affairs team chief.

Parry, today’s #PEOEISTeammateTuesday, answered questions about his career and life.

What is your mission?
I am leading an effort to combine 28 legacy training systems into one solution that will provide training management, development, scheduling, resource management and learning and content management to over 1.8 million Soldiers, civilians and contractors.

We are also refreshing the Army Learning Management System (ALMS), a centralized training management system that hosts courseware and delivers standardized training. We will migrate the data inside ALMS to a Moodle platform hosted in the cloud.

ATIS Industry Day is Dec. 5 in McLean, Virginia. What is ATIS seeking from vendors?

We are seeking innovative vendors that can solve the massive challenges related to migrating 28 legacy systems into a cloud environment. This is all about the data. The Army Data Plan and Army Cloud Plan lay out the Army strategy for becoming more data-centric.

Vendors need to be able to support the Army's future data mesh. Their minds have to be focused on getting the data within ATIS so it can be placed at the point of need and leaders can use it at the tactical, operational and strategic levels across all three components.

To acquire future vendors, we will leverage a modular contracting approach to avoid vendor lock-in. It will be anchored by a modular open systems architecture to ensure that we do not lock ourselves into any specific software solution. We want to understand how we can incentivize industry partners to cooperate under a modular contracting approach.

We are seeking a solution integrator that will conduct all of the developmental and operational integration for ATIS at the direction of the Project Management Office. Our developmental efforts will be divided into three separate other-transaction agreements that will develop the capabilities of ATIS in a single pane of glass that will be the future of ATIS. We want to use other-transaction agreements to bring industry’s best-of-breed technology into the ATIS fold under a single sign-on, cloud-enabled solution.

What is important to understand about software development?
According to Vitality Chicago, a research group, about 42% of software development initiatives succeed, 47% are challenged and 11% fail. And the real question is: When did you identify that challenge or failure? Did you identify it early or did you identify it four years down the road after you poured millions of dollars into it?

Failure is not a horrible thing. It’s okay to fail early, correct the course moving forward or save taxpayer money.

How do you learn about industry trends?
I read a lot about agile development and data centricity. Every acquisition officer that is developing software should read the Defense Innovation Board’s article, “Detecting Agile BS.”

What does your ideal industry partner look like?
I need industry to be modular. Mr. Young Bang, Dr. Raj Iyer and Mr. Ross Guckert talk about modular approaches.

We need modular open systems architecture. I have zero desire to get into a situation where I am locked into a vendor’s commercial off-the-shelf solution. If technology is bringing something innovative to the table, I want to be able to insert it if it's appropriate for my program. I don't want to be locked in to one specific product and then two years down the road, that product is already obsolete. That's ridiculous.

Why is PEO EIS a great place to work?
Leaders like Mr. Guckert, Col. Rob Wolfe, Ms. Jenn Potts, Mr. Timothy Hale and Ms. Christie Murphy trust me to do my job. My opinion matters. If I have an idea, it is not just brushed aside because I have only been in this position for a little under two years.

Col. Wolfe has told me multiple times, “As an acquisition officer, you are in the best position of your career because you get to learn to manage cost, schedule and performance.” And I 100% agree.

How would you describe your leadership style?
I like to be hands off because people can truly surprise you when you let them blossom and are not in the weeds micromanaging them. I provide intent and direction. If the job's not being done, it's usually because my intent and direction are poor. I have a fantastic staff at ATIS.

I came from an Army Special Operations background, yet I am working with brilliant people who have master’s degrees and doctorates in computer science. Am I going to be the leader who tells them how to how to make their sausage? No. I provide leadership intent and direction and allow innovation to thrive.

A lot of times complacency is the standard rather than the exception. If somebody comes to me with an innovative idea, nine times out of 10 — unless it is just fiscally irresponsible or isn’t aligned with the ATIS mission — I am going to say yes.

What does a good leader do?
A good leader listens.

What challenges have you have overcome in your career?
Everybody on this planet had to adapt to COVID-19. I am an extrovert. My wife will tell you I am an annoying extrovert. But I love engaging with people. And when we went to a virtual environment, I had to adapt.

I like to see the look in a person’s eye when you are trying to pitch an idea. And that is incredibly difficult in a virtual environment. I didn't really have a whole lot of choice but to make it work and ensure that there were very good lines of virtual communication.

Name one thing you can't do without in a day.
Hugging my wife.

When are you happiest?
Going on dates with my wife is my happy spot. I also enjoy spending time with our young children and tinkering with my 1968 Mustang.

If you could have coffee with anyone in history or present day, who would it be and why?
I would have coffee with my paternal grandfather. I was young when he passed away and didn’t get to know him well. He was a gunner on a B-24 Liberator during World War II. After his knees were severely injured during a bombing campaign, he had to use a wheelchair for the remainder of his life.

What is the best advice you received?
My dad always says, “Pride comes before the fall.” Don't let pride get the best of you. Be humble.

What do you consider the most valuable virtue?
Empathy. People go through various highs and lows. And we don't always share in somebody's joy or struggle. Lack of empathy is why you see depression and suicide rates at all-time highs. Empathy helps us understand why people are hurting.

How would you like to be remembered?
I would like to be remembered for creating a dynamic work environment where people were able to come with innovative ideas and truly enjoy their work. If a leader doesn’t create a dynamic work environment, a lot of times people do not find their work to bear fruit or be joyful. Providing an intended direction — that's leadership 101. But being able to create a dynamic work environment that is enjoyable — that's tough to do.