You’ve heard the term “square peg in a round hole”, right? That’s not something you want. People are different. They have different personalities, different experiences, and different ways to approach problems. People are different shaped pegs.
There’s not necessarily a “correct” or “best” way to approach all problems. When you lock yourself into a rigid workflow where everyone has to follow the same process and you add in endless details to try and perfectly plan a project’s stages, you are eliminating the ability for people with different personalities to approach problems in different, creative ways. You are trying to make different shaped pegs fit through the same shape hole, and that’s not going to work.
Ask yourself: “Is the goal to make everyone follow a process, or is the goal to get the projects completed?” Try it yourself. You might find an ‘imperfect process’ gets more done.
That doesn’t mean everyone runs wild. We still use a system that allows people to work as detailed or as broadly as they need. But we try and keep the process light and flexible. Trust your people. Let them work.