You’re right that the world’s messy, but a good rule set isn’t a cage, it’s a map. It keeps the team moving before they can even see the terrain. If you let everyone improvise, you end up with a pile of half‑made decisions that cost time and resources. Adaptation is still possible, but it has to happen inside a framework that tells you where you can bend and where you can’t. Protocols aren’t about stifling creativity; they’re about preventing the worst failures. So yes, I believe in a rule‑bound approach—just make the rules smart enough to be flexible when the situation demands it.

A map that can’t bend is a map that never gets drawn right. I don’t deny flexibility; protocols have a fail‑safe built in for that. The real danger is people using “bend” as an excuse to abandon the core path. A crew that learns to read the terrain while still obeying a hardened line is the only way to keep the ship from breaking. The ship’s course isn’t broken by a rule that lets a seasoned hand cut a corner when the situation calls for it. It’s broken when the rule itself stops the crew from seeing the corner. Keep the lines, but make sure the crew knows when and how to cross them.