There are certain phrases that should make every manager, process owner, and change leader just a little nervous:
And, of course, the undisputed champion: “Because we’ve always done it that way.”
It sounds harmless. Comfortable, even. It suggests continuity. Tradition. Perhaps a charming organizational history involving three-ring binders and a fax machine that everyone is afraid to unplug.
But “because we’ve always done it that way” isn’t really an explanation. And it definitely isn’t a strategy.
Most outdated processes didn’t start out ridiculous. There was probably a good reason for them.
Maybe a form needed three signatures because of an old compliance requirement. Maybe someone created a spreadsheet to compensate for a limitation in software the company stopped using six years ago. Maybe employees were told to print a report, scan it, and email the PDF because at the time, that was genuinely the easiest solution.
Then the requirement disappeared. The software changed. The organization grew. And the process remained, quietly collecting birthdays.
Eventually, nobody remembers why the process exists. They just know that Step 7 says to email the spreadsheet to Kevin.
Kevin retired in 2022. Someone still emails it.
Organizations are good at adding things:
What organizations aren’t always as good at is going back and asking whether the old steps, checklists, systems, and meetings are still necessary.
The result is process archaeology: layers of procedures built on top of other procedures until employees are following workflows no one would deliberately design today. And all those extra layers add up. PwC’s 2024 Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey found that workers and CEOs alike estimate that about 40% of the time spent on administrative activities is inefficient.
That costs more than time. Unnecessary complexity creates more opportunities for errors, makes training harder, frustrates employees, slows decisions, and makes automation more difficult. It also creates one of the biggest obstacles to successful change: people stop questioning the process because the process feels permanent.
Not the toddler version, where you ask “Why?” seventeen consecutive times until someone hides in the supply closet. The useful version: What problem is this step solving? If nobody knows, keep digging.
Maybe there is a good reason. Great. Document it. People are much more likely to follow a seemingly inconvenient process when they understand why it matters.
But maybe the answer is:
That’s your cue to investigate.
Documentation is essential for consistency, training, knowledge transfer, and increasingly, AI readiness. But documenting a bad process beautifully does not make it a good process.
Before capturing a workflow, organizations should occasionally ask whether that workflow still deserves to exist:
Good documentation shouldn’t fossilize the way work used to happen. It should support the way work needs to happen now.
That requires treating processes as living systems rather than sacred traditions.
Sometimes, “just because” is a perfectly good reason. Have dessert first. Wear the ridiculous socks. Take the scenic route home. Not everything needs a carefully considered rationale.
But if someone asks why your organization still follows a 14-step process involving a shared spreadsheet, two approvals, and Kevin’s abandoned inbox?
You might want a better answer.
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“Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2024.” PWC. 6/24/26. Accessed 8/10/16. https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/issues/workforce/hopes-and-fears/hopes-and-fears-2024.html