Kessel Run Software Factory: From Whiteboard to Operational Tool

Description and use

Kessel Run built a software factory that replaced a manual whiteboard planning process with an automated tool, cutting daily effort from eight hours to three.

Problem

An eight‑hour daily task for six people to plan aircraft refuelling over the Middle East needed a faster, more reliable solution.

Outcome

The factory cut the planning time from eight hours to three hours and enabled a single operator to perform the task, demonstrating the efficiency gains of a fixed, automated production line.

Workflow

• 1. Capture the whiteboard plan as a software requirement.
• 2. Design a reusable software architecture for refuelling planning.
• 3. Implement the application using a software factory pipeline.
• 4. Deploy the tool to the operations centre.
• 5. Transition daily operations to the new tool, reducing manual effort.

Evidence

In 2017, at an air operations centre in Qatar, the plan for refuelling aircraft over the Middle East was drawn on a whiteboard. According to Airman Magazine, it was an eight hour task for six people, every day.

Source

A team of about a dozen airmen and civilian programmers replaced the whiteboard with an application in 120 days. After that, one person did the job in three hours.

Source

The Department of Defense had a more expensive version of the same problem. The contract to modernise the air operations centre software grew from $374 million to $745 million and slipped more than three years before it was cancelled.

Source