Defense Innovation Unit · what the people who do the work said they need

What DIU is actually asking for

Fourteen people described fifty-two things they need. Read one at a time they sound like a feature list. Read together they describe one job that nobody can currently do end to end — answer a question about DIU's own portfolio and prove the answer. Each section below looks at that same job from a different angle.

52
things they need
14
people asking
9
places the facts live
6
things to join up
7
fixes underneath

User journey

A simple question turns into a scavenger hunt.

A simple question turns into a scavenger hunt.A five-stage user journey for Katherine Koleski, with a sentiment line that troughs at stage four.STAGE 1Hears the stateSTAGE 2Opens her ExcelSTAGE 3Builds the pivotSTAGE 4Checks it is realSTAGE 5Walks inNEUTRALMED-LOWLOWcannot source the numberACTIONSA senior leader meetsa senator tomorrowThe files shemaintains herselfFilters down to thatone state by handWhich company? whichyear? still current?Cannot show where thenumber came fromTOUCHPOINTCalendarExcelPivot tableData tabPowerPointLEGENDhow the prep feelsthe troughthe friction she namedKATHERINE KOLESKI · ASK-001, ASK-002, ASK-008

Five stages, and the floor drops at stage four. Pulling a number out of the spreadsheet is slow but survivable. Proving the number is right is the part with no answer at all.

“how do I make sure I can understand what data is feeding into it?”— Katherine Koleski, Soleil Sykes

It feels like that because of where the facts physically sit.

IT current-state

One project's facts are scattered across nine places.

One project's facts are scattered across nine places.Nine tools grouped under congressional affairs, programme management and finance, with no connections between the groups.CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRSExcel fileshand-builtPivot tableshers alonePowerPointre-typed each timePROGRAMME MANAGEMENTSalesforcetyped in by handA PM's sent mailthe phase datesGoogle Chatchase the PMFINANCEGoogle Slidesfunds, by handPIE / PIEEnot connectedA text messagedid you get paid?no linkno linkWhere one project's facts live todayLEGENDa system of recordnot a system - a messagenothing joins them9 PLACES NAMED ACROSS THE 52 ASKS

Three teams, three sets of tools, nothing joining them. Two of the nine are not systems at all: a phase date lives in one person's sent mail, and whether a company got paid lives in a text.

“That's them just sending an email so there's no record keeping of that aside from their own email to the vendor.”— John Rudy

That is also the clock the congressional side is working against.

Process

A letter from Congress starts a 24 to 48 hour clock.

A letter from Congress starts a 24 to 48 hour clock.A five-step process for answering a congressional letter inside a 24 to 48 hour deadline, with the hunting step marked as where the time goes.A letter arrives‘…in my state?’Hunt across teams‘shaking the trees’Hand-fill the figurescounts and dollars, by handWrite the responsefrom a templateSend it backinside the window24 to 48 hours, totalA letter from a member of CongressMost of that window goes on step two — the finding, not the writing‘finding things is like 80% of the battle before even doing the ingest’LEGENDa step somebody performswhere the time actually goesthe deadline the whole thing sits underSOLEIL SYKES · ASK-015, ASK-016, ASK-011

Somebody writes in asking what DIU is doing in their state. The reply has to go back inside two days, and almost all of that window is spent hunting for the figures rather than writing anything.

“It's like we're on a hunt searching for the information, and that's where we spend a lot of time... It would be super helpful if we could already know that there's…”— Soleil Sykes, Liz, Prescott

On the programme side the same gap shows up as a question nobody can answer.

Sequence

Answering “where is this project?” is a round trip through three people.

Answering “where is this project?” is a round trip through three people.A sequence diagram of a status question travelling from the Pentagon through John, his spreadsheet, Google Chat and a project manager, and back.Pentagonasks the questionJohnprogramme leadRoadmap sheethis own fileGoogle Chatthe chaseThe PMthe only sourcewhere is this prototype right now?open it, scroll to the projecta milestone number, possibly stalemessage the PMis it still at milestone six?replies when freeconfirmedit is at milestone sixabout two hoursLEGENDa calla replywhat the round trip costsJOHN RUDY · ASK-019 · JOHN RUDY MEETING 2026-08-13

Nobody reads the answer off a screen. It gets reconstructed every time: guess from a spreadsheet, message the one person who actually knows, wait for them to be free.

“I want it intelligent: there should be an LLM overlay so I can query my project, ask questions.”— John Rudy, Jaime Fitzgibbon

Money moves through the same blind spot that status does.

Swimlane

A contract crosses three desks, and the last handoff is a text message.

A contract crosses three desks, and the last handoff is a text message.A three-lane swimlane following a contract across project manager, finance and the company, ending in a manual text message.PROJECT MANAGERFINANCETHE COMPANYContract awardedType it into Salesforceevery field, by handType in the funding docone at a timeSend the invoicePay itno signal backText the companydid you get paid?period of performance startsinvoiceno notificationOne contract, from award to paidLEGENDa step somebody performsthe step that should not have to existthe handoff that never happensJAIME FITZGIBBON · ASK-023, ASK-025 · DIU KICKOFF 2026-06-18

Everything up to payment is typed in by hand. Then payment happens somewhere the project manager cannot see, so the only way to find out is to ask the company directly.

“I have to type... vendor paid date - I don't know that unless I text the vendor 'did you get paid?' I have no visibility.”— Jaime Fitzgibbon

And the record of where a project has got to is no firmer than the payment record.

State machine

A project moves through five phases, and it can skip all of them.

A project moves through five phases, and it can skip all of them.A state machine of the five CSO phases with an accent arrow showing an unguarded jump from phase one to transitioned.Phase 1Phase 2Phase 3On contractTransitionedthe date of every one of these moves lives only in a PM's emailnothing currently blocks this jumpTwo rules the asks want addedRefuse the impossible jumpwarn, and stop itNever advance without telling the vendornotify on every moveLEGENDa phase a project sits inthe jump nobody can preventa guard the asks wantJOHN RUDY · ASK-021 · CSO PHASES

The phase dates are not written down anywhere official, and nothing stops a project being clicked from the very start to “transitioned” and back again. Part of ASK-021 is simply: notice that, and refuse it.

“That's them just sending an email so there's no record keeping of that aside from their own email to the vendor.”— John Rudy

All six of those failures come back to the same short list of causes.

Fishbone

Five separate things make the numbers impossible to defend.

Five separate things make the numbers impossible to defend.A fishbone diagram with five cause bones feeding the effect that a number cannot be defended.A number nobodycan defend13 of the 52 asks name thisRecords scattered16 asksOne recordFind & produceCan't find what exists11 asksFind & produceOfficial numbersFigures untraceable7 asksDefensible numbersFits DIUTool doesn't fit DIU13 asksFits DIUEvery deskMoney split by year3 asksOfficial numbersWhy the figures cannot be stood behindLEGENDa cause categorythe root causethe observed effect5 PROBLEM BUCKETS · TICKS = WHAT THOSE ASKS REACH FOR

The root of it is the middle bone: the figure exists, but you cannot trace where it came from. Everything else compounds it — scattered records, no way to search, a tool shaped for somebody else.

“how do I make sure I can understand what data is feeding into it?”— Katherine Koleski, Soleil Sykes

Those causes are exactly what the 52 asks are aimed at.

Tree

Fifty-two separate asks are really seven things.

Fifty-two separate asks are really seven things.A tree with 52 asks at the root branching into the seven fixes they collapse into.52 asksfrom 14 peopleOne record12 asksOfficialnumbers12 asksFind &produce9 asksFits DIU6 asksDefensiblenumbers5 asksEvery desk4 asksWarn in time2 asksWhat 52 asks collapse intoLEGENDeverything captureda thing they want built50 OF 52 REACH A FIX · 2 HAVE NO PROBLEM BEHIND THEM

People asked in fourteen different vocabularies across seven meetings. Sorted by what they actually want built, it comes down to seven, and the first two carry nearly half of them.

Underneath the seven, the same six nouns keep turning up.

ER / data model

Underneath all 52 asks there are only six things, and no line between them.

Underneath all 52 asks there are only six things, and no line between them.An entity relationship model with project at the centre, linked to company, contract, funding document, milestone and state.PROJECTProject# project_idphaseplanned vs actualPARTYCompany# company_idpast awardsAGREEMENTContract# contract_id→ project_idmodificationsMONEYFunding document# fund_id→ contract_idtype, budget yearexpires onSCHEDULEMilestone# milestone_id→ contract_iddue, kicked-outPLACEState / district# geoidsenatorsruns1Nis bought by1Nis paid from1Nis measured by1Nhosts1NThe six things the asks keep trying to joinLEGENDa thing DIU tracksthe one everything hangs offNAMED IN THE ASK TEXT: PROJECT 23 · VENDOR 19 · CONTRACT 17 · STATE 15

Read the asks closely and the same six nouns keep coming back: a project, the company running it, the contract that bought it, the money paying for it, the milestones measuring it, and where it sits. Most of the 52 are a request for one of these lines to exist.

Joining them is not enough on its own — the thing also has to react.

Flowchart

Four of the asks are really one rule: do not accept bad data quietly.

Four of the asks are really one rule: do not accept bad data quietly.A flowchart of four requested behaviours: flag conflicts, fix a single field, block incomplete data with a reason, and fire an alert on a condition.A document arrivesDoes it disagree withwhat we already hold?Flag the conflictASK-045yesIs only one fieldwrong?noFix that one fieldASK-033yesReprocess the whole docwhat happens todaynoIs anything requiredstill missing?Block it, say whyASK-031yesContract expiring, or30 days unpaid?Fire the alert nowASK-043yesWait for the schedulenot good enoughnoWhat the tool should do on its ownLEGENDa decision or a stepthe behaviour they asked forwhat happens instead todayASK-031, ASK-033, ASK-043, ASK-045

Told apart they look like small feature requests. Put on one page they are a single demand — the system should notice when something is wrong or late and say so, instead of storing it and waiting to be asked.

“There's going to be multiple inputs... if your system can pick up inconsistencies... for us to be able to like clean up, that would be helpful.”— Masha

And it has to hold a project together across years, not just documents.

Timeline

A project's story gets chopped into budget years, and money quietly expires.

A project's story gets chopped into budget years, and money quietly expires.A timeline of one project across four budget years with funding blocks from two sources, one marked as expiring, and a bracket spanning all four years.FY 22FY 23FY 24FY 25THE PROJECTthe same prototype, start to transitionITS MONEYDIUmoneypartnermoneyDIUmoneypartnermoneyabout to expireWhat Congress actually askswhat happened — not which year paid for itOne project, chopped into budget yearsLEGENDa pot of moneymoney that expires unspentthe span nobody can currently see at onceSOLEIL SYKES, JOHN RUDY · ASK-012, ASK-022, ASK-048 · AMOUNTS DELIBERATELY UNNAMED

One prototype runs for years, paid for out of several pockets in several years, some of it DIU's and some of it a partner's. No view puts those side by side — so money can reach its expiry date with nobody watching, and the one question Congress asks spans the whole row.

“Those $100,000 are going to expire, meaning that they're no longer good.”— John Rudy

Put every one of these next to each other and they describe a single path.

Data flow

Put every ask end to end and it is one pipe.

Put every ask end to end and it is one pipe.An end-to-end data flow from five named sources through extraction, cleaning, checking and correction into one record, producing six named outputs.Contract PDFs90% of it is in hereSpreadsheetshand-maintainedSalesforcetyped in by handPIE / PIEEthe official moneySAM.gov, congress.govthe outside worldREQUESTED CAPABILITYPull the facts outstop the retypingClean and mergethe data arrives dirtyCheck itconflicts, gaps, provenanceLet a person correct itone field, not the documentOne recordproject · companycontract · fundsplace · milestoneA state briefingASK-007A drafted letterASK-015A project's statusASK-019One funds viewASK-022A warning in timeASK-043On a phoneASK-036Everything on this page, as one flowthe middle band is what people asked for — not a design anybody has agreed toLEGENDwhere the facts are nowa step the asks describethe thing all 52 are circlingSOURCES AND OUTPUTS BOTH NAMED BY ASK ID

This is the whole page in a single picture: the places the facts sit today, the handful of steps people keep describing, one joined-up record in the middle, and the six things they want out of it. The middle is a request, not a blueprint — nobody has agreed how it would be built.

4 of the 52 carry less weight than the others

For these four, the record itself notes that the person they are filed under did not actually say it. They are still counted in every figure above — nothing has been left out — but they should not be read as somebody's words. 48 of the 52 can be.