BOOK REVIEW: Drain The Defence Swamp

BOOK REVIEW: Drain The Defence Swamp Bruce Griffiths OAM reviews ‘Drain The Defence Swamp – A Blueprint for Weapons Acquisition Reform’, by Gary D Stewart.

I found Drain The Defence Swamp to be a compelling read. It is a powerful, thoughtprovoking page-turner that, despite the negative tone of the title, in fact offers a very positive argument. It brutally and unflinchingly reviews Australia’s current and past performance failures at product development in terms of Defence Weapons programmes. Gary D Stewart’s brutal dismantling of every excuse used by the Department of Defence to justify their equipment acquisition failures is quite riveting to read. For some readers this book will be very controversial, as indeed it was for me. I am a strong believer that Australia needs to continue to develop a strong and efficient defence manufacturing industry. It made me think twice about writing this review, but the book is absolutely inspiring and persuasive, and for those looking for solutions, it will not disappoint. The book includes facts and new information that I was not aware of, and includes many interesting anecdotes and stories. The writing style makes it easy to read – and hard to put down. This is clearly a book written by a passionate expert in this field. Given my own background, with almost 50 years in the Australian manufacturing industry, I was particularly interested in any inputs that will lead to a resurgence of best-practice global manufacturing in this country. Without giving the story away, Stewart describes the problem as one of a form of organisational incompetence that has evolved over an extensive period. Industry continues to scramble to resolve these problems but never resolves the issues. Mistakes are repeated time and time again. Stewart walks us step-by-step through reallife examples of those failures, explaining as he goes why and how they happen. He also explains in simple terms precisely why the well-documented cost and time blowouts are unavoidable using current processes. The enormous amounts of ‘taxpayer gold’ that is wasted is truly astounding and disturbing, a concern that Stewart tries to address with sound recommendations. The chapters on affordability and cost reduction were particularly eye-opening. I’ve never seen it explained so clearly and thoroughly. Initially it’s hard to believe the scope of cost reductions described as possible. But Stewart’s explanations and examples of 30%-50% cost reductions will change your mind. I was troubled by one metaphor: “For far too long now Defence has been selling us ‘square wheels’ and telling us they will eventually make them round.” The time to deal with these issues is now, given Australia will need to rebuild manufacturing as an outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our country’s productivity and opportunities globally. The time for disruption is now. And disruption Stewart delivers. In spades. The reform chapters methodically lay out a persuasive blueprint for how to shift away from dysfunctional product developments to a new world’s-best-practice method that for some will be challenging but for most readers will just make total sense. Complexity is made simple. Excellence is made simple. Stewart walks us step-bystep through the solutions in an accessible, conversational style. There are many good lessons to be discovered in this book, for both Defence and general industry; I believe that everyone in business leadership and engineering should read it. For me there was a significant moment when the promise in the book came together. After forcefully describing the big problem (the Swamp), then persuasively describing a solution that will solve that big problem, Stewart shares his knowledge, understanding and experience, in an eloquent and quite masterful book that can enrich readers’ lives and careers in many ways. The book concludes with: “Success is about creating and establishing Superior SYSTEMS for Weapons Acquisition programs. Those Superior (product development) SYSTEMS then deliver muchneeded, better cost and performance outcomes. Those Superior SYSTEMS enable the Weapons Acquisition Swamp to be drained.” Powerful words. Don’t pass this book by; it’s well worth your time.

‘Drain The Defence Swamp – A Blueprint for Weapons Acquisition Reform’ by Gary D Stewart will be released on 12 October. www.draintheswampbooks.com

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