Two years. Millions of Euros for "perfect" processes. Zero results. (The high cost of zero pragmatism)

 The second things get uncomfortable, everyone retreats behind the process.

We try to design the “perfect” ironclad processes.

Everything documented. Roles crystal-clear. Communication is reduced to the bare minimum.

It feels safe. After all, we Germans love engineering perfection and rules.

👆But the moment a real transformation begins, this strength turns into a dangerous trap.

Why?

Suddenly, people live in two conflicting worlds:

🌎 The old world: “Follow the process. Never break the rules. That’s how we stay safe.”

🌍 The new world: “Experiment, take shortcuts, let go of old ways.”

You can’t just flip a switch between those two.

The result? Zero pragmatism. Paralysis.

Without explicit room for pragmatism, people get overwhelmed: too many new things, zero tolerance for shortcuts or common-sense solutions.

A transformation starts to feel like walking through a blizzard — every step forward is a struggle against the wind, and it is freezing cold.

I’ve personally watched a company I used to work for spend over two years and millions of euros mapping EVERY excruciatingly detailed process to design "target processes".

Absolutely Insane — and the exact opposite of pragmatism. It was clear to me that the market changes faster than their process map. I always thought that by the time the target processes were designed, they would be long outdated.

Outcome? Absolutely nothing — except slowly wearing everyone out until the whole initiative died of exhaustion.

It remains, to this day, the most absurd waste of time and money I’ve seen so far.

Takeaway:

➡️ Pragmatic solutions are not only allowed — they are required in a transformation.

➡️ Mistakes are part of the deal. If you punish mistakes and failure, you instantly push the entire organization back into the German reflex: “We have always done it this way.”

Who else has watched German perfectionism freeze a transformation solid?👇