Process Playbook
Simple Approval Flows That Scale
Principles for designing approvals that don't become bottlenecks.
What Usually Goes Wrong
- Everything requires the owner's signature
- Nobody knows who can approve what
- Multiple people approve the same thing
- Approvals sit in queues for days
Why It Breaks as Businesses Grow
Approval processes often start informally: "Run it by me before you send it." As volume increases, that informal check becomes a chokepoint. The person who needs to approve everything becomes the constraint.
Structural Principles
Decision rights, not just approvals
Define who can decide what without escalating
Thresholds, not blanket rules
Not everything needs the same level of review
Speed by default
Most things should move without approval; flag exceptions
Visible accountability
Whoever approves owns the outcome
Common Mistakes
- Adding approvals to reduce risk (they often add delay without reducing risk)
- Approval as a substitute for training
- No escalation path for stuck approvals
- Approvers who don't have context