---
id: "prereq-process-engineering"
type: "prereq"
source_timestamps: ["§ How AI Might Take Jobs—and How It Probably Won't", "§ What to Do Instead"]
tags: ["operations"]
related: ["concept-individual-vs-process-productivity"]
reason: "Necessary to comprehend the authors' argument that individual productivity gains do not automatically translate to organizational efficiency without structural redesign."
sources: ["execution"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-execution"
originDay: 8
articleStem: "hbr-foci-62-layoffs-ai-potential-not-performance"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/01/companies-are-laying-off-workers-because-of-ais-potential-not-its-performance"
sourceTitle: "Companies Are Laying Off Workers Because of AI’s Potential—Not Its Performance"
---
# Basics of Business Process Engineering

**Prerequisite knowledge:** Familiarity with **business process redesign** and the difference between task-level execution and end-to-end process workflows.

**Why it matters:** The article's central mechanism — that a 10–15% individual programming boost does *not* automatically become organizational efficiency — depends on understanding that a process is more than the sum of its tasks. Required to comprehend [[concept-individual-vs-process-productivity]], [[claim-translation-difficulty]], and the recommended [[action-redesign-business-processes]].

**Quick orientation:** A *task* is a discrete unit of work performed by one role; a *process* is the end-to-end flow of tasks, handoffs, and decisions that delivers a business outcome. Speeding one task rarely speeds the whole process unless the surrounding handoffs, roles, and bottlenecks are re-engineered around the new capability.


## Related across articles
- [[claim-process-redesign-required]]
- [[action-redesign-interorganizational-processes]]