Any group of people organized for a purpose with any complexity or ambiguity will lose sight of their goals. This seems silly because why would they lose their goals if that is the entire reason why they organized in the first place? That’s where the complexity and ambiguity come into play. Each member of the group starts chasing details and getting caught up in creating and restating the giant todo list of things that need to get done – perfectly reasonable things but not focused enough to move forward at a useful pace.
The solution is focus. 1,000 “no’s” for every yes. A short list of things that must get done.