[cm2012]

The biggest cause of this in my experience is too much codified process, not too little. This is cause #1 in this article, which is vindicating.

Adding process is a delicate balance and most large companies err on too much of it.

Every checklist you add, every new approval, every sheet that needs some rows filled out, every brief - all of them add friction.

New projects are inherently speculative, and most things don't move the company's bottom line. The power law that says 10% of work get 90% of results is true. Friction means whoever is doing the work is just a little less likely to propose a bold test, to push on a tweak they notice, because they know it will become an ordeal.

Obviously you can't be 100% wild west and some process is needed. But you have to be very very careful when adding it.

[Brian_K_White]

There is another, opposite force that manifests in humans arising from almost the same inputs, they will often happily tolerate 99% friction, as long as they actually get at least those few 1% of wins.

Even with a ton of nice safe ossified process to make the owners feel safe, if you just make it a policy to give them a win once in a while, they'll live off of that and not even be all that unhappy.

The 99% friction is felt less like a waste and more like a high bar.

I think in a lot of places, they just don't allow even that calculated IV drip of dignity and purpose.