capacity. It is a mission-change effort with technology attached. How Leaders Should Run the Work A practical business process re- engineering session does not need theatrics. It needs a clear purpose, the right participants and enough discipline to challenge assumptions. The facilitator should start by bound- ing the process: What event starts it? What output ends it? Who is the cus- tomer? What mission outcome does it support? What system capability will support the future process? Without those answers, the group will drift into anecdotes. Next, the team should map the cur - rent process as it works, not as policy says it works and not as senior leaders hope it works. Frontline users, super- visors, functional owners, data own- ers, control owners, system experts, and policy representatives all need a voice. The map should capture tasks, decisions, handoffs, queues, data en - try, systems, documents, approvals, rework, and exceptions. It also should identify which steps are required by law, regulation, or policy—and which steps persist out of habit. Then the team should measure enough to size the problem. Cycle time, queue time, transaction vol- ume, rework rate, exception rate, labor hours, and defect rates are of- ten more useful than opinions. When data are incomplete, sampling beats guessing. A process that cannot be measured can still be discussed, but improvement will be hard to prove. Only then should the team design the future process. The sequence matters: Eliminate, simplify, stan- dardize, then automate. Remove steps that create no value and add no required control. Combine steps where possible. Run parallel reviews when sequential reviews add no ben- efit. Standardize data definitions. Re - place email routing with workflow. Replace local spreadsheets with au- thoritative data. Shift routine checks
to system rules when the process is stable and the data are reliable. Finally, leaders should challenge every customization request. What decision requires the field? What law requires the approval? What mis- sion fails without the report? Can the standard product handle the work if the process changes? What evidence shows customization is unavoidable? These questions may be unpopular. They are also the questions that pre- Business process reengineering is uncomfortable because it forces organizations to confront their own habits. It asks whether the work still makes sense, whether the structure supports the work, and whether tech- nology is enabling a better process or preserving a familiar one. vent years of avoidable cost. Change the Work First For defense acquisition leaders, the lesson is direct. Do not reorga- nize before understanding the work. Do not automate before redesigning the process. Do not customize a de- fense business system to protect ev- ery local practice. And do not mistake movement on an organization chart for mission improvement. The cow path will always have de- fenders. They know the route. They built workarounds, which they may even prefer because using work- arounds preserves local control. But a modern business system should not pour asphalt over yesterday’s wan- dering trail. The purpose of business process reengineering is to decide
where the road should go before the department pays to build it. KURODA is a professor of Program Manage- ment at the Warfighting Acquisition Uni- versity. He has led major Army software ini- tiatives, served as Division Chief at the Army Software Engineering Center, and advised on complex electronic warfare programs. He has held executive roles in commercial software development and retired from the U.S. Army as a senior intelligence analyst. He holds degrees in liberal arts and information systems, is certified in advanced program management, and is a graduate of PMT-401, PMT-402, and the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy. The author can be contacted at david.kuroda@waru.edu . The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the Department of War. Reproduction or reposting of articles from Defense Acquisitio n magazine should credit the author and the magazine.
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22 DEFENSE ACQUISITION MAGAZINE | JULY – AUGUST 2026
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