I got two parking tickets in San Diego. Yes said the irresponsible employee,
one hundred and fifty dollars, TWICE, for parking in a place that looked completely normal unless you already knew the secret: a thin red line on the curb that quietly means “absolutely not.” No sign or dramatic warning. Just paint you’re apparently born knowing if you grew up in Southern California.
One hundred and fifty dollars, TWICE, because I didn’t know the rules… and because on Day Two I still didn’t check my car, because I was busy doing what any reasonable New Englander does in Southern California in February: standing in the sun like a houseplant with a low battery alert.
That mistake has a corporate twin.
Work is full of “red paint rules” that are obvious only after you get fined. You step in to help, move fast, update the doc, answer the question, “just fix it real quick” … and then you come back to a friendly little citation:
“We actually don’t do it that way.”
“Who approved this?”
“Can we align?”
Translation: you’re parked in someone else’s lane.
But most teams are not suffering from lack of desire for partnership, they’re suffering from invisible rules:
Who owns what.
Who decides what.
What “done” means.
What needs a heads-up vs permission.
And sometimes there is no sign. The rule is based on the climate (notice I DID NOT say culture… tune in tomorrow for that). For today, the curb is painted in someone’s head. And if you weren’t taught it, you won’t see it.
This shows up outside work too.
We misread signals. We assign meaning to silence. We assume shared context that isn’t there. We walk around with our own personal “parking rules” and forget other people are operating from different signs, different streets, different enforcement.
So, what do we do? Besides paying $300 for sunlight, which I do not recommend. 🤑
We run a quick SNAK check before we “help” (that’s what I’ll be doing, anyway):
SKILLS: do I have the context or just confidence?
NETWORK: who owns this lane and have I asked?
ACTIVITIES: what is the smallest move that helps without hijacking?
KNOWLEDGE: what pattern am I repeating when I assume instead of verify?
Now your turn: what’s the most painful “red paint rule” you learned at work the hard way? Drop it in the comments so we can post the signs for each other.
