Preserving Wasteful Practices

Habit is powerful.

Inhabitants of intersection set

• People who place symbolic value on the wasteful practice
• People who have built a reputation on the wasteful practice
• People who find the wasteful practice a pleasant diversion
• People who have failed to change it in the past, so they don’t want others to succeed
• People who feel that eliminating the practice would be “giving up” or “quitting”
• People who fear the change and disruption eliminating the wasteful practice may bring
• People opposed to it, but who base their practice on the assumption of it’s permanence
• People whose current role is based on continuing the wasteful practice
• People whose bosses are unwilling to eliminate the wasteful practice
• People who see it as a sign of rank or importance, and aspire to rise to it

It is easy to imagine those on the far right or on the far left, but that middle set is surprising to find.