Norm Obsolescence
Expectations outlive their reasons: dress codes, office hours, gift rituals and business customs persist after technology and economics have changed, because abandoning them costs coordination and social capital.
An everyday example
Printing and signing documents that were born digital because 'that is how contracts are done'.
What it can cost you
Paying the cost of obsolete norms; being outcompeted by those who dropped them.
Warning signs
- Nobody can say why we do it.
- The reason belongs to a world that ended.
One thing to do
Periodically ask of each custom what it was for; if the reason is gone, coordinate its removal rather than waiting for someone else to.
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