The Blueprint Trap

McKinsey's 2019 study found 70% of large-scale transformations fail.

The pattern? They treated their change models like blueprints.

The US Army learned this in Iraq. Their detailed doctrine—their blueprint—assumed predictable enemies. Reality delivered chaos. General Stanley McChrystal threw out the blueprint. Created a map instead. Small teams. Rapid experiments. Daily adaptation.

(Yes, daily.)

Maps guide. Blueprints dictate.

Your data migration plan? That customer journey you mapped? That "proven" framework from the consultant?

They're maps. Not blueprints.

Maps show terrain and let you choose paths. Blueprints demand exact execution. One adapts to reality. The other breaks against it.

Your best people already know this.

They're quietly running experiments. Testing edges. Ignoring the blueprint when it doesn't match the territory.

The ones who follow blueprints blindly. Gone.

Next time someone presents a model, ask: "Beautiful map—now where might it be wrong?"

Because the moment you mistake your map for the territory, you've already started failing.

You just don't know it yet.