Failure Mode / 02
Governance became approval
Signal
More reviewers and gates, with limited improvement in quality.
Root cause
Governance was equated with control.
Consequence
Decision velocity collapses.
Redesign principle
Governance should increase decision quality and velocity, not maximize approvals.
Why this happens
When risk is managed mainly through review, every uncertainty becomes another gate. The system protects itself procedurally while accountability becomes diffuse and decisions move further from the people with the clearest context.
Diagnostic question
Which approvals change the quality or safety of a decision, and which only document that someone looked at it?