We all bought into this.

And we are all being damned for it.

The "this" I'm talking about is the phrase "approval process." It caught me unawares, I'll admit. But all of a sudden, so it seems, an approval, which should take place at a fixed point in time, is a process that can extend over weeks or, who knows, maybe months or, who knows, maybe years.

But wait, it gets worse. Engineered within the phrase "approval process" is a democratization of feedback and comments. The process includes dozens of people whose feedback needs to be considered. Approval is no longer singular. It is plural. We don't seek approval on a piece of creative, through the approval process, we seek the plural--approvals.

Getting through the approval process becomes a goal unto itself. The approval process itself is one of time-lined compromise. If we do "X," we will get through this level. Doing "Y" will get us past this level. The approval process is something you get through, or better, something you have to navigate, though there isn't a boat or a navigable body of water in sight.

It seems to me that this issue is not only endemic to our profession but infects our world. Which could begin to explain how we got to where we are.