There is an immediacy to warfare that necessitates invention. The conflict in Ukraine is an excellent example of this. Amid the tragedy and suffering, a small, flexible fighting force is holding a giant at bay.

There has been a lot written about how technology is changing warfare. Ukraine is not blessed with world-leading technologists. Its success in holding up a far larger power is a result of organisational systems.

Successful systems, from marketing and manufacturing through to the military, come down to three things. They pursue the right metric, use modular production, and tackle the organisational challenge.

The defence industry is often seen as the ultimate example of crony capitalism. It could just as easily be viewed as a socialist archetype. Either way, it struggles to deliver effective outcomes.

The problem is organisation. Committees of political and military personnel decide what they need and what the machines should do. Corporations bid to deliver their requirements. The contract winners build delivery systems designed to meet the exact specifications of the bid, with little flexibility once work begins.

In peacetime, the procurement process becomes a job creation and maintenance scheme. The UK’s Ajax armoured vehicle programme is under review. It is 9 years overdue and, if continued, will not see service before 2029. Production supports 4,000 jobs and a supply chain of 230 companies. But the product doesn’t work.

Ajax is a modified version of an Austrian-Spanish vehicle. There are specifications for weight, speed, architecture, armour and armaments. To date the manufacturer, General Dynamics UK, cannot deliver.

Meanwhile Ukraine is fighting an actual war. It sets drone manufacturers a target of reducing cost-per-kill. Committees don’t decide how the drone should navigate, what size it should be, or how fast it must fly. The only metric that matters is how cheaply each target can be neutralised.

Most Ukrainian drone designs share standardised components and common software. If the jamming system becomes obsolete, it is swapped out for an updated one. There is no need to rebuild the whole production line. That’s important when there are around 500 different manufacturers.

The final piece of the puzzle is the feedback loop. Survival is determined by how quickly data moves between field operatives and the people who adapt the drones. Most participants in the system have no history in the defence industry. But they have learned how to get things done fast.

There are around 70 distinct AI systems already active on the battlefield in Ukraine. But the business lesson need not be about AI. Any system can be improved with an appropriate metric, modular design, and an effective organisational structure. What AI does, is make it easier to experiment.

Think about marketing on LinkedIn. You can pay a lead generation guru $1,000 for their coaching course. They’ll sell you a system that works for them and insist you follow it to the letter. If it fails, the blame shifts to your execution. In effect, you are paying to see the results of their experiments with content, distribution and profile positioning. You could run those experiments yourself.

In manufacturing, the traditional model fixes the production line around a single specification. The target product dictates procurement, production, and sales. That structure is efficient until something changes.

A more flexible approach builds around interchangeable components. Individual parts can be replaced or upgraded without disrupting the wider process. Improvements do not require rebuilding, or result in delays.

Military procurement is changing. Defence departments are waking up to the necessity of producing in line with a country’s capabilities. There should be far fewer bespoke designs that require entirely new industrial processes to deliver them. The UK, in particular, needs to learn this lesson.

In normal times, there would be no need for 500 drone manufacturers in Ukraine. Hopefully, normality can be restored. Then those who pivoted to defend their country will pivot back and deploy their organisational skills in peaceful pursuits.

In the meantime, we can admire the spontaneous ingenuity of Ukraine’s entrepreneurs. We can also take a simple lesson from their success. Whatever our business, we must use the right metric, be flexible in how we pursue our goal, and remove all unnecessary obstacles to delivery.