Wow, what a prime example of structural brittleness in the organization you work for. Get a different job ASAP before this one destroys your brain and you begin to think like the idiots who are manning the regulations.

This sounds like you are working for a large organization where the things that get rewarded are standards and regulations as oppose to actual useful stuff. To every organization there is a level of standardization that is appropriate, but these guys have come to the conclusion that the standard is more important than whatever the organization was set up to do.

I feel for ya, man.