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It is a strange saying. My guess is this is something that's lost in translation—a leaky metaphore—and the people using it don't think about real cow paths. Re

It is a strange saying. My guess is this is something that's lost in translation—a leaky metaphore—and the people using it don't think about real cow paths. Real world space is (generally) 2 dimensional, and these cow paths are often very predictable and sensible. They're usually the result of architects thinking that sometimes people actually walk or bike, instead of always driving cars. In the world of bureaucracy & information tech, the space can be very convoluted, and shortcuts aren't really the same kind of thing (queue XKCD comic on spacebar heating).

motoboi 6y ago
Cows tend to pass where other cows passed. Herd behaviour. Something like a real world effort optimisation. No use trying to optimise in a week using one brain something that found a local minima (or maxima) over years and multiple people. Normally the change (and effort) to achieve a better minima (or maxima) has to made on a variable you just can't see or imagine. Something on the line of Chesterton’s Fence.