In much of Europe (apart from Britain), North America, etc, you can assume that if a connection is published, it is normally attainable.
At most of the transfer points (again, apart from Britain) if you arrive on a Short Connection this will all be detected by the system and you will find staff on hand to rush you across, maybe by shuttle van transfer across the ramp.
The joint inability of carriers such as BA at Heathrow with a brand new, optimised terminal where this traffic was never taken into account, the UK government, who insist on immigration, customs and security procedures that add nothing to their efficiency but greatly hold up transfer traffic, and the airport operator like BAA who are damned determined, at whatever cost, that you will have to walk past every one of their shops, means that if you have only ever transferred in Britain, not overseas, you will never have experienced this.
I have done 18 minutes (actual, inbound was late) at Munich between on the blocks inbound from London City, and door closed on a departure to Russia. That involved someone waiting at the aircraft steps with Herr WHBM's name on a clipboard, and a van transfer as well. All on a low price Y ticket. Presumably Lufthansa's skills have been applied to Brussels as well now.