The Approval Email That Sat for Days: Designing Better Handoffs

A small decision, a long delay

Consider a routine request that sits in an inbox for days because nobody knows whether the team lead, manager, or compliance partner must approve it. The actual decision takes two minutes. The waiting takes a week.

Separate decisions from notifications

I would map which approvals are required by policy, which are customary, and which are simply copied from an older workflow. Some steps need formal authorization. Others only need visibility.

Design the routing rules

A better process might classify requests by risk, value, or exception type; assign a primary approver; specify a backup; and show request status in one place. Automated notifications can support the flow, but only after the decision rights are clear.

Test the exceptions

Before launch, I would test urgent requests, absent approvers, incomplete submissions, and cases that require escalation. A workflow that handles only the ideal scenario is not finished.

The lesson

An approval process should protect the business without making routine work wait for unnecessary permission.

← All insights