When Process Improvement Is Not Enough: The Case for Federal Process Reengineering
July 2, 2026
Process improvement works when the underlying process is fundamentally sound. When it is not — when the structure itself is the problem rather than how well the structure is being executed — incremental improvement produces incremental results. The waste is reduced at the margins. The core dysfunction remains. Process reengineering starts from a different premise. Rather than asking how to make an existing process work better, it asks whether the process should exist in its current form at all. The answer, in more federal agencies than most leadership teams are comfortable acknowledging, is often no. We support federal agencies in