Comment by 9dev

I’ve read an interesting analysis of that situation, or rather the ass-covering culture in government adjacent power structures in Germany: The authors concluded that government agencies and offices are often led by lawyers, and therefore fostered a lawyer-inspired culture—which pretty much follows Conway‘s law. Over time, this has led to a management style overwhelmingly concerned with a fear of liability, and ass-covering instead of innovation.

That rings very true with me as a German.