Disruptive solutions process

The disruptive solutions process (DSP) is a decision-making process used by the United States Air Force and Air National Guard. It was created in 2005 by fighter pilot and Air Force/Air National Guard Colonel Edward Vaughan and is iterative, low-cost, and first-to-market in nature. It is primarily used to prevent mishaps during the combat operations process.

The typical defense industry bureaucratic approach to problem-solving involves long lead times and relative inflexibility. Long development cycles and lead times results in solutions that are no longer relevant.

Recent attempts to resolve inefficiencies include overwhelming the problem with funding, resources, and manpower—for example, major weapon systems development, such as a new fighter jet or IT system. Conversely, when resources are constrained, bureaucratic staff adopt continuous process improvement, similar to kaizen, total quality management, and Lean Six Sigma. This perpetuates low-value programs that should be eliminated, rather than "improved".

Because most preventable safety mishaps are caused by human factors, safety should apply a disruptive, iterative approach that may not be appropriate in hardware-focused programs, such as aircraft production.

To address the cultural issues associated with mishap prevention in a large bureaucracy, the Air National Guard safety directorate used Boyd's Observe, Orient, Decide, Act Loop to assess the effectiveness of the process. This was the origin of DSP.

DSP is persistent and adaptive:

Persistence is about refusing to give up even in the face of adversity. Adaptation is about shortening the time to success through ingenuity and flexibility. "Adaptive persistence" entails alternating between anticipation, changing course, and sticking with it, deftly navigating that paradox with aplomb.

DSP is a six-step process that focuses on projecting future market needs by looking at front-line problem solving activity and scaling those solutions up. Although the full algorithm has not been publicly published as of January 2024, the following process has been made public: