Enhancing a Military DevSecOps Platform Through Strategic Feedback Analysis
A leading military DevSecOps platform faced growing pains as fragmented, unstructured feedback hindered its ability to evolve based on user needs. We designed a comprehensive feedback ecosystem—integrating structured collection, ML-powered analysis, and cross-functional prioritization—which led to a $1.5M partnership, 47% faster onboarding, an 89% user satisfaction rate, and a scalable, user-driven roadmap now influencing other defense software initiatives.
The Challenge
A major military branch had established a groundbreaking DevSecOps platform designed to accelerate the development and deployment of secure software applications across defense organizations. This platform, which we'll call "Defense DevSecOps Hub," had rapidly grown to become the first department-wide DevSecOps enterprise service within the federal government, supporting dozens of critical defense programs.
Despite its success, the platform faced significant challenges in effectively capturing, analyzing, and implementing user feedback. The engineering teams were inundated with unstructured feedback coming in through various channels—support tickets, email, direct communications, user forums, and in-person events. There was no systematic way to prioritize this input or translate it into actionable product improvements.
The organization's leadership recognized that their ability to scale and continuously improve the platform would depend on establishing a more disciplined approach to customer feedback. They needed a partner who could not only collect and organize user input but also extract meaningful insights that would drive platform evolution.
When we engaged with the platform team, they were struggling with several specific issues:
The feedback data existed in disconnected silos, making it impossible to identify broad patterns or trends. There was no consistent methodology for evaluating feedback priority or business impact. Engineering teams were making product decisions based on the loudest voices rather than the most strategically valuable improvements. The platform's key offerings—including their secure container repository, deployment pipeline, and managed cloud environment—were evolving without a cohesive product strategy informed by real user needs.
Adjective's Approach
We recognized that this engagement required more than just implementing a feedback collection tool—it demanded a fundamental shift in how the organization leveraged user insights to drive product development. We worked closely with the platform's Business Operations team to design a comprehensive feedback ecosystem.
First, we established structured channels for collecting feedback from the platform's diverse user base. Rather than creating a single mechanism, we developed multiple touchpoints appropriate for different user types and interaction models. This included enhanced support ticket categorization, regular user surveys, facilitated feedback sessions, and analytics instrumentation within the platform itself.
With the collection mechanisms in place, we developed a framework for enriching and analyzing the raw feedback. This framework included taxonomies for categorizing feedback by product area, type of request, severity, and strategic alignment. We also implemented a method for estimating the business impact of addressing specific feedback items, which proved crucial for prioritization.
The most innovative aspect of our approach was developing a machine learning-enhanced system that could identify patterns across seemingly unrelated feedback items. By applying natural language processing and clustering algorithms, we could identify emerging themes that might not be apparent when looking at individual pieces of feedback in isolation.
Beyond the technical systems, we worked with the platform team to establish a "feedback council" that regularly reviewed the analyzed data and made decisions about which insights would be translated into the product roadmap. This cross-functional team included engineering leaders, product managers, security specialists, and customer advocates, ensuring that decisions balanced technical feasibility with user needs.
Throughout the process, we maintained a focus on connecting feedback directly to measurable outcomes. Each significant product enhancement or feature was tagged with the originating feedback, allowing us to track the impact of changes and communicate back to users how their input had shaped the platform.
The Results
The impact of this strategic feedback initiative extended far beyond improved customer satisfaction. Within eight months, the comprehensive approach to feedback collection and analysis had transformed how the platform evolved:
The engineering team successfully triangulated a critical piece of feedback that led to adapting one of their core offerings, which directly resulted in a $1.5 million partnership with another defense organization. This adaptation addressed performance bottlenecks that had previously prevented wider adoption.
Customer onboarding time decreased by 47% after implementing changes based on consistent feedback about configuration complexity. This improvement enabled more defense programs to adopt the platform without requiring extensive specialized training.
We detected an emerging pattern of requests for better documentation around security compliance, which led to the development of automated compliance reporting. This feature became a key differentiator for the platform in subsequent outreach to defense agencies.
The product team's prioritization effectiveness improved dramatically, with 83% of implemented changes tracing directly to high-impact feedback compared to only 36% before the initiative.
User satisfaction scores across the platform increased from 72% to 89%, with particularly strong improvements in the areas of technical support and documentation.
Most significantly, we partnered with the Business Operations team to create a pricing model and framework for scaling their offering. This model, informed by feedback about what users valued most, created a sustainable approach to funding further platform development.
The Transformation
Beyond the metrics, this initiative fundamentally transformed how the organization approached product development. What had been an engineering-driven platform evolved into a truly user-centered service that balanced technical excellence with user needs.
The feedback ecosystem we created became a strategic asset for the organization, allowing them to detect emerging requirements before they became urgent and to communicate more effectively with stakeholders about platform evolution. Defense programs considering adoption of the platform reported that the visible responsiveness to user feedback was a key factor in their decision-making.
The systematic approach to feedback also created unexpected opportunities for collaboration across different defense organizations. As patterns emerged showing similar needs across different groups, the platform team could facilitate connections that led to shared solutions rather than duplicated efforts.
Perhaps most importantly, the feedback-driven approach to developing secure software tools has become a model for other defense technology initiatives. The principles and frameworks we established have been adopted by several other defense software factories, amplifying the impact beyond the original platform.
This case exemplifies how thoughtful customer feedback systems can transform the evolution of complex technical platforms. By creating a structured approach to capturing, analyzing, and acting on user insights, we helped a critical defense capability better serve its mission and expand its reach across the defense enterprise.