When Following the Process Becomes More Important Than Solving the Problem
Most organizations don’t mean to bury themselves in process.
It usually starts with good intentions: a deadline slips, a dependency gets missed, a customer commitment falls through. Leadership looks for a reliable fix—add a new process, revise the SOP, or bolt on a framework.
At first, it feels like progress. Roles are clarified, steps are documented, and expectations seem more concrete.
But then the pattern shows up: the process becomes the goal, and solving the real problem takes a back seat.
The Handoff Trap
Nowhere is this clearer than in the way organizations handle handoffs and dependencies.
Here’s an example I’ve seen more than once:
A product team is struggling with delays. Leadership introduces a new tool to track dependencies.
Every request is logged, tagged, routed, and queued. On paper, it looks neat and orderly.
But what once could’ve been solved in a two-minute conversation now waits in a queue. A week later, the dependency is still “in process.”
The tool does its job—documentation and traceability—but it also quietly changes behavior. Instead of solving problems directly, teams wait for the next step in the system. Work slows down, silos deepen, and the very impediments the tool was meant to solve become entrenched.
Where AI Fits (and Where It Fails)
AI promises to speed things up, and it can—in the right environment.
But if the culture already prioritizes process compliance over problem-solving, AI just amplifies the wrong behavior.
Instead of removing impediments, it memorializes them.
Instead of enabling innovation, it systematizes the environment that stifles it.
A Better Pattern
The better path is to design for fewer handoffs and eliminate silos altogether.
Every unnecessary handoff introduces delay. Every silo makes collaboration harder.
When teams are empowered to work across boundaries, decisions happen faster, delivery smooths out, and innovation has space to thrive.
Culture makes this possible. In organizations where people are trusted to lead at every level, ownership replaces handoffs. Conversations replace queues. Leadership isn’t something reserved for the top—it’s distributed, and it accelerates outcomes.
The Question to Ask
Before adding another process step, framework, or AI feature, pause and ask: Are we solving the problem or just getting better at following the process?
The organizations that thrive aren’t the ones with the most process or the latest tools. They’re the ones where culture enables people to take ownership, reduce handoffs, and keep problem-solving at the center.
