"Kate brought positive energy and optimism - she asked the right questions, listened attentively, and relentlessly built connections across (our) ecosystem. Her persistence was a key factor for alignment and buy-in across stakeholder groups. If you're looking for someone who can lead with purpose, build bridges across complex organizations, and stay optimistic in the face of ambiguity, Kate’s the one you want."
Biz/Org
US Space Force SLD45 Capabilities Development Division (CDD)
Year
2024 - 2025
Defense Tech
Portfolio Strategy
Overview
“We stopped measuring progress by the length of a status meeting. Now it’s what’s in prod that matters.” – USSF Stakeholder
At Rise8, I led product portfolio strategy for the US Space Force’s Capabilities Development Division (CDD), transforming how their digital capabilities were prioritized, staffed, and shipped. The mission was clear: real software, in production, used by operators—not prototypes gathering dust.
Defined a mission-aligned portfolio roadmap across multiple secure environments
Shipped a self-serve launch platform landing page to support cross-range developer access
Coached PMs and tech leads on agile discovery, vertical slicing, and roadmap clarity
Introduced product rituals and portfolio structure for four concurrent delivery teams
Orchestrated a cultural shift from project-based funding to persistent product thinking
Goals
How might we help the Space Force ship secure, operator-ready software faster—and use production as the metric of success?
In a compliance-heavy, waterfall-rooted defense environment, success often looks like paperwork. But real impact demands working software. Our goal was to overhaul both the infrastructure and the mindset—building the systems, rituals, and confidence to deploy software safely and often.
Established new team rituals focused on outcomes, not status updates
Streamlined onboarding across multiple launch ranges with high-security constraints
Mentored PMs to advocate for their users and lead without waiting for permission
Helped senior leaders see portfolio health through delivery metrics, not Gantt charts
Challenges
Deeply entrenched waterfall processes and risk-averse delivery culture
High compliance and cybersecurity hurdles for deploying software in production
Fragmented tooling, differing workflows across launch ranges, and complex handoffs
Lack of shared language or structure across multiple portfolios and contracting teams
Solutions
Co-created a unified portfolio strategy that aligned capabilities to mission outcomes
Delivered a secure, self-serve developer onboarding platform to reduce access delays
Introduced repeatable product rituals (backlog hygiene, roadmap sequencing, story slicing)
Ran working sessions and shadow coaching for PMs, helping them lead through ambiguity
Advocated with leadership to prioritize persistent teams and production-focused metrics
Outcome & Impact
Reduced deployment cycle time by 92% (from 6+ months to just 2 weeks)
Cut onboarding time for new dev and contract teams by 75%
Shipped a new launch platform landing page supporting secure developer workflows
Coached PMs across 4+ portfolios, raising product maturity and delivery consistency
Helped transform how success is measured: from plans and decks to prod and impact
