This week marks the 250th edition of the Acquisition Research Program’s (ARP) Need to Know newsletter, which goes out weekly to a broad community of military leaders, academics, service members, students, and acquisition professionals.

The newsletter was launched in 2020 by ARP Program Manager Karey Shaffer and founding editor Michelle “Shel” Johnson.

As the longtime editor of Need to Know — she produced 213 of its 250 issues — Shel played an enormous role in developing the voice and direction of the newsletter.

We reached out to get her thoughts on the role this publication plays in the acquisition community. Here’s what she had to say:

What was the reason for creating the newsletter?  
We created the newsletter to strengthen the connection between NPS, ARP, and the community of acquisition experts and researchers that our program brings together every year at the Acquisition Research Symposium, as well as our student researchers and those we historically supported with research grants. 

Why did you opt for the news roundup format?
The news roundup format allows us to ground acquisition research in the larger conversation of current events, underscoring how research can provide important insight and analysis for the defense acquisition community.
 
Why was important to commit to a weekly newsletter?
A lot of news happens in a week! But staying on top of each day's news can be overwhelming, especially for researchers whose attention is often pulled in many other important directions.  Providing a weekly roundup winnows down that news into a digestible summary of the most relevant and interesting stories, helping researchers get a big picture overview of the defense acquisition environment that their research should be in conversation with. 

And on a personal level, I ended up loving the process of creating the newsletter because it forced me to make sense of a complex defense acquisition world. It also gave me the chance to add my casual analysis to the conversation, which I truly enjoyed.

What do you hope readers got out of the newsletter while you were editor?
I hope the readers felt that we were engaging them in conversation that felt a little like chatting during a break at the symposium. We were touching base intellectually and personally, connecting through the big ideas that we are all passionate about and as people who are slogging through the work week together. I love this community!

The rest of the ARP team also loves this community!  We are grateful for everyone who reads the newsletter, shares their reactions, and sends us interesting articles and noteworthy research.

If you’re not already receiving the newsletter, please come join us for weekly dose of acquisition news! ​​​​​​​