Sancho PM· Philosophy · 3 min read
The Knight's Armor
When Process Becomes Protection
Don Quixote's rusty armor didn't protect him — it slowed him down. Your processes might be doing the same. Here's Sancho's take.
The Rusty Armor
Don Quixote spent days polishing his grandfather’s old armor. He added pieces, repaired joints, created an elaborate helmet. By the time he was done, he could barely move.
The armor was supposed to protect him. Instead, it weighed him down.
Sancho wore a simple tunic. He could run, climb, and adapt. When things went wrong, he could move quickly.
The knight in armor? Stuck.
The PM Version
I’ve watched teams suffocate under processes designed to “protect” them:
The Approval Armor. Every decision needs sign-off from five stakeholders. By the time everyone approves, the market has moved.
The Ceremony Suit. Sprint planning, sprint review, sprint retro, backlog grooming, daily standups, weekly syncs, monthly reviews, quarterly planning. When do we actually build things?
The Documentation Shield. “We need to document everything for future reference.” The documentation takes longer than the work. No one reads it anyway.
The Risk Mitigation Fortress. Every change needs a risk assessment, a rollback plan, a contingency strategy, and approval from legal. Small changes become six-week projects.
All protective armor. All weighing the team down.
The Sancho Approach
Sancho didn’t wear armor. He wore what let him move. Here’s his process philosophy:
1. Process is Overhead, Not Product
Every hour spent on process is an hour not spent on product. Sancho would ask: Is this ceremony worth what it costs?
The test: If you cancelled this meeting for a month, what would actually break? If nothing, it’s armor, not protection.
2. Speed is Safety
Quixote thought armor made him safe. Sancho knew that speed and adaptability were better protection.
For PMs: Fast feedback loops are safer than heavy processes. Ship small, learn fast, adjust quickly.
3. Add Process When It Hurts
Sancho didn’t add layers until he needed them. He’d get cold, then add a cloak.
The rule: Only add process to solve a specific, current pain. Not hypothetical future problems.
4. Remove What You Don’t Need
Over time, Quixote’s armor accumulated rust and extra pieces. Sancho traveled light.
The question: What process could you remove tomorrow without consequence?
Signs Your Process is Armor
Watch for these patterns:
- Meetings about meetings — planning the planning
- Templates for templates — meta-documentation
- Approval chains longer than the work — three weeks of review for two days of code
- Ceremony without purpose — rituals that persist after their reason is forgotten
Each is a piece of rusty armor slowing you down.
The Minimum Viable Process
Here’s what you actually need:
- A way to decide what to build — can be a conversation, doesn’t need a framework
- A way to know if it’s working — a metric or two, not a dashboard of fifty
- A way to course correct — a quick retro, not a two-day offsite
That’s it. Everything else is optional armor.
The Monday Morning Test
Before your next process meeting, ask:
- What specific problem does this process solve?
- Is that problem still happening?
- What would happen if we stopped doing this?
- Who actually benefits from this ceremony?
If the answers aren’t clear, you’re wearing unnecessary armor.
The Light Traveler
Sancho finished the adventure. Quixote kept getting stuck.
The knight with the most armor isn’t the strongest. The one who can move is.
Strip your process to what you need. Travel light. Ship fast.
The journey is hard enough without rusty armor weighing you down.
Put this into practice
Strip the unnecessary process. The Decision Log keeps you moving without the ceremony.
