Institute for Defense Analyses Reviews

Pros

Supportive environment, Many educational facilities, Many advanced training opportunities, The benefits are excellent and the work environment is very good

Cons

The senior management is very mundane and not leading in innovation,they are not aware of the pace of technology change and how the new technologies affect the workplace.

Advice to Senior Management

The management needs to get their hands dirty to understand the details of new technologies and how they fit the dramaticallyc changing customer environment

Pros

Interesting, knowledgeable co-workers, who are very collaborative, with little posturing. Pressure to get a predetermined answer on a study is rare to non-existent.

Cons

Very poor vertical communications. A lack of forthrightness in the communications. Paternalistic attitudes by management, which is not well enough connected to the staff to get their paternalism right.

Advice to Senior Management

Be open with the staff about challenges and opportunities facing the Institute. IDA's institutional relationship with DoD has eroded, and been largely replaced with personal contacts. Under these circumstances, pursue courses of action that elevate the stature of selected staff members and make them more visible, without compromising the discretion for which the Institute is valued.

Pros

Very collegial, yet you definitely have a lot of latitude to do your job how you want to. Good benefits package. Nice people.

Cons

Very flat. Very little opportunity for career advancement within the company. A good place to close out your career and share your expertise of having actually worked in DoD, rather than looking to advance your own goals

Pros

The work is interesting and you get to work on high profile problems. There is a great work / life balance. Great benefits. I like the people. Very stable environment.

Cons

No real way to get promoted without an advanced degree. This is a place where you need to be self-motivated to succeed since management doesn't put much pressure on underperformers.

Advice to Senior Management

There should be more of a pyramid structure in terms of personnel (i.e., more junior level analysts and fewer senior level analysts). Then IDA could do more work for the same budget.

Pros

There is a great benefits package and great time off. Working government hours is nice as well, and it's a pretty laid back place.

Cons

There isn't really any potential to move up in this company. Once you are hired, whether as a researcher or support staff, you are most likely stuck in that position whether you want to be in management or not.

Advice to Senior Management

Create more opportunities for employees to develop both their management skills and professional skills, regardless of position, as many on both the research and support staff have more potential than is utilized.

Pros

Highly collegiate staff. Everyone is intelligent and pulls their own weight. The work is never boring.

Cons

The experience is much like a consulting firm, where the experience can depend on the team members and client for that project. Staff members need to wear many hats, which sometimes don't fit so well.

Advice to Senior Management

The projects require constantly changing skill sets. More structured training on-demand is needed to facilitate ongoing education. Better planning of the work flow pipeline, to reduce gaps and bottlenecks in staff hours.

Pros

Good working conditions. Nice people throughout the company. Excellent benefits. I know of many employees who have left only to come back. Senior researchers very encouraging.

Cons

Organization is a little flat, but if you take time and patience to watch and learn, you can build your own program.

Advice to Senior Management

none

Pros

Flexibility
Freedom
Ability to take indicatives
Very good working environment, very good ability to contact experts,
Good support facilities and good employee programs

Cons

Only pilot work which has to be funded by customers and very little is funded from internal funds and internal organizations

Advice to Senior Management

NONE

Pros

The working conditions are very good. The library is very good. The work is balanced and does not become chaotic. The work is varied and interesting. The atmosphere is collaborative and a small percentage of the colleagues are brilliant.

Cons

The work is fragmented. Continuity of work so that real expertise that is gained is accomplished by major effort from the individual. Real research is done in very few projects - the rest of the projects use buzzwords but are mundane.

Advice to Senior Management

Very little synergy between research divisions There is little long term vision and few projects that support such a vision. Among peer FFRDCs IDA is NOT a shining star..

Pros

Good benefits.
Interesting, varied and important projects with access to government sponsors.
Colleagues are top notch, some even brilliant.

Cons

This is a very flat organization, so expect to remain in place for many years.
Lack of core funding, plus government imposed limits leads to "feast or famine" project work.
Limited opportunity for research staff to participate in business deveopment.
There is no consistent development program for project/task managers. PM is mostly done by "rainmakers" with personal ties to sponsors.
Funding for modern tools (e.g., software) is done at task rather than enterprise level.

Advice to Senior Management

Adopt some consistent and transparent PM/ business development practices, and encourage interested staff to learn them.