The longer someone works inside a system, the less of it they see
Friction gets absorbed. The workaround becomes the process. The structure becomes invisible from inside.
The longer someone works inside a system, the less of it they can actually see. Friction gets absorbed, and the workaround becomes the process.
The trouble is the origins stop being visible. What was a deliberate choice three years ago and what's scar tissue from something that happened in passing start to look the same from the inside. Most of it still works. Which is why nobody thinks to question it.
It's not a thinking problem. It's a proximity problem.
Pressure is what breaks it open. Not because pressure shows anyone something new, but because it takes away the slack that was letting it go unnoticed. Suddenly the thing that had been adapted around is in the way again, and its shape is visible.
The instinct in that moment is usually to relieve the pressure.
Reading what it revealed is a different move.