Strategies to Overcome Workflow Friction

Critique this (real) team's experiment. Good? Bad? Caveats? Gotchas? Contexts where it will not work? Read on: Overview The team has observed that devs often encounter friction during their work—tooling, debt, environment, etc. These issues (while manageable) tend to slow down progress and are often recurring. Historically, recording, prioritizing, and getting approval to address these areas of friction involves too much overhead, which 1) makes the team less productive, and 2) results in the issues remaining unresolved. For various reasons, team members don't currently feel empowered to address these issues as part of their normal work. Purpose Empower devs to address friction points as they encounter them, w/o needing to get permission, provided the issue can be resolved in 3d or less. Hypothesis: by immediately tackling these problems, the team will improve overall productivity and make work more enjoyable. Reinforce the practice of addressing friction as part of the developers' workflow, helping to build muscle memory and normalize "fix as you go." Key Guidelines 1. When a dev encounters friction, assess whether the issue is likely to recur and affect others. If they believe it can be resolved in 3d or less, they create a "friction workdown" ticket in Jira (use the right tags). No permission needed. 2. Put current work in "paused" status, mark new ticket as "in progress," and notify the team via #friction Slack channel with a link to the ticket. 3. If the dev finds that the issue will take longer than 3d to resolve, they stop, document what they’ve learned, and pause the ticket. This allows the team to revisit the issue later and consider more comprehensive solutions. This is OK! 4. After every 10 friction workdown tickets are completed, the team holds a review session to discuss the decisions made and the impact of the work. Promote transparency and alignment on the value of the issues addressed. 5. Expires after 3mos. If the team sees evidence of improved efficiency and productivity, they may choose to continue; otherwise, it will be discontinued (default to discontinue, to avoid Zombie Process). 6. IMPORTANT: The team will not be asked to cut corners elsewhere (or work harder) to make arbitrary deadlines due to this work. This is considered real work. Expected Outcomes Reduce overhead associated with addressing recurring friction points, empowering developers to act when issues are most salient (and they are motivated). Impact will be measured through existing DX survey, lead time, and cycle time metrics, etc. Signs of Concern (Monitor for these and dampen) 1. Consistently underestimating the time required to address friction issues, leading to frequent pauses and unfinished work. 2. Feedback indicating that the friction points being addressed are not significantly benefiting the team as a whole. Limitations Not intended to impact more complex, systemic issues or challenges that extend beyond the team's scope of influence.

As companies grow, they accumulate "bad friction"—processes that slow people down, frustrate teams, and add little to no value. If you want to keep your company agile, try the Subtraction Game: - Shorten default meetings. In Google and Outlook, reduce default meeting lengths (e.g., make 30 minutes — or even the 25 minute “speedy meeting” — the norm instead of 60) - Challenge teams to cut meetings, emails, and apps by 50%. Ask: What can we remove without losing impact? - Wipe calendars clean. Once a year (or quarterly if you wanna be aggressive h/t Joshua Hone), cancel all standing meetings and see what’s actually missed. - Drop the jargon. Swap out buzzwords for clear, simple language. - Cap email length. Set a 500-word max so people get to the point. Axios' Smart Brevity book and online resources can help with this. - Limit participants. No more than six people in a meeting or interview loop—more requires a strong case. - Turn it into a game. At your next offsite, reward the team that finds the most time savings without sacrificing business results. High-performing teams aren’t just good at adding. They’re disciplined about removing what no longer serves them. For more on this topic, check out the inspiration behind the post: 📚 The Friction Project by Robbert Sutton and Huggy Rao. What’s one thing your company could subtract today? Let me know ⬇️ __ 👋 I'm Melissa Theiss, 4x Head of People and Business Operations and advisor for bootstrapped and VC-backed SaaS companies. 🗞️ In my newsletter, “The Business of People,” I share tips and tricks that help founders, operators, and HR leaders take their tech companies from startup to scale-up.

How GCC Leaders Can Improve Work Execution to Drive Employee Experience, Productivity, and Quality Most GCCs focus on scaling operations and cost efficiencies, but the best leaders go beyond that. They rethink how work gets done—removing inefficiencies, empowering employees, and ensuring quality outcomes. Here’s what truly moves the needle: 1. Fix Process Inefficiencies and Automate the Obvious Too many GCCs still replicate HQ processes instead of optimizing for agility. Identify bottlenecks, eliminate redundant approvals, and automate manual tasks—especially in IT, HR, and finance. Workflow automation can cut task times in half. 2. Align Teams Across Time Zones with Outcome-Based Execution Global teams struggle with coordination, leading to handover gaps and rework. Instead of micromanaging, real-time dashboards, and clear outcome ownership. Focus on customer impacting outcomes not effort. 3. Empower Employees with the Right Tools and Autonomy A poor employee experience leads to low engagement and productivity loss. Give teams self-service analytics, knowledge bases, and low-code/no-code tools to solve problems independently. Cut meeting overload and encourage deep work time. 4. Prioritize Learning, Growth, and Cross-Functional Expertise GCCs shouldn’t just execute work—they should drive innovation. Invest in technical upskilling, global mobility programs, and leadership rotations to create a future-ready workforce. 5. Governance Without Bureaucracy Traditional governance models slow down execution. Instead of rigid top-down approvals, implement agile decision-making frameworks and RACI models that balance control with speed. GCC leaders must shift from process execution to work transformation—optimizing workflows, leveraging AI, and making employee experience a top priority. The results can be significant: • 15-30% productivity gains by automating and streamlining workflows. • 10-25% cost savings through elimination of reduntang processes, process efficiencies and automation. • 20-40% improvement in employee engagement by reducing friction in daily work. • 20-50% faster execution of key projects by reducing delays and dependencies. • 25-50% fewer errors through improved governance and automation.

Your instinct says: “We need to hire more people.” But what if that’s not the real bottleneck?.... One founder I worked with ,who leads a 12-person SaaS team, was stuck in a growth plateau. Leads were coming in. The team was skilled. But everything still had to go through her. She was exhausted. And scaling felt impossible… unless she doubled headcount. But here’s the shift that changed everything: “It’s not about more people. It’s about clearer systems.” Here’s the 4-step framework we used to scale operations, without hiring: 1. Inventory hidden friction: ↳ We tracked 7 days of internal workflows. ↳ The result? 30% of her team’s time was spent clarifying tasks they’d already “completed.” 2. Redesign roles around outcomes, not tasks: ↳ We stopped assigning to-dos and started assigning ownership. ↳ Each role owned a result, not just a checklist. 3. Install decision thresholds: ↳ Her team was escalating every minor choice. ↳ So we introduced a simple decision-making filter: → If the cost is under $250 and reversible, decide without her. → If not, bring it to weekly ops sync. 4. Automate the “check-in” loop: ↳ We built a Monday morning briefing template that team leads submit weekly. ↳ She stopped chasing updates, and started making strategic decisions again. The result? ✅ She scaled her client capacity by 40% in 90 days, with the same team. Hiring wasn’t the answer.... System clarity was. What’s one area in your business that feels stuck; where you keep thinking, “We just need more help”? Drop it in the comments, and I’ll walk you through it in a LinkedIn Systems Jam Session. I help small business owners install scalable systems so their teams can grow, without growing their stress. #systems #leadership #business #strategy #ProcessImprovement

80% of workflow bottlenecks are hiding in plain sight. But most teams don’t look closely enough to see them. When I design workflows, I don’t add new tools right away or build complex systems. I start by mapping the current process. Without knowing every step, we’re just guessing at what’s slowing us down. Here’s my go-to checklist for spotting the hidden issues: 1 - Map every step Document each click, handoff, and decision. Most teams skip this, but it’s where the real insights are. 2 - Spot repetitive tasks Repeated steps often go unnoticed. They feel like “just part of the job” but usually add no real value. 3 - Measure task times Check how long each step actually takes. When times drag, it’s a sign of inefficiency that needs fixing. 4 - Look for approval delays Every extra approval is a potential bottleneck. Too many checks can slow things down more than they help. 5 - Align skills with tasks Ensure tasks fit the person’s skill level. If experts are doing routine work, it’s time to rethink the setup. 6 - Automate simple tasks Automation isn’t about flashy tools. It’s about freeing up your team’s time for critical work, not admin tasks. It’s surprising how often these basics are ignored. Do this if you want to do more with less. Or skip it if you’re okay with unnecessary delays and wasted resources.

Here's one of the biggest mistakes I see regularly In ClickUp... ❌ One task, multiple assignees When a new request comes in, it's common to create a single parent task and assign it to everyone involved. Don't do this. Here's why it fails  : ➝ No one understands exactly who is responsible for what. ➝ Each assignee assumes someone else will take charge, so things fall through the cracks. ➝ It becomes super difficult to track progress, unless your project manager is "annoying" and checks in every hour  ➝ And then deadlines get missed because it's unclear who owns what. ✅ Here's how to avoid this mistakes ⚙️ Break down work into subtasks - Don't use single parent tasks. Separate into subtasks for each step and owner. ⚙️ Avoid shared assignments - Only assign each task to one person. Never assign subtasks to multiple people. ⚙️ See the workflow end-to-end - Name subtasks so the workflow is clear. Ex: Write the blog post, Review the blog post, send the blog post to the client, receive feedback from the client and make edits, etc. ⚙️ Be consistent - Follow these task practices on all projects so team members know what to expect. ⚙️ Build a dang process library - To save yourself a ton of time and headaches, build out all your workflows, save them as templates, and deploy them over and over again. ------------  ✋ What other mistakes have you seen?

On average, the insurance quoting and binding process in commercial insurance can involve up to 20 back-and-forth exchanges and can take anywhere from 7 to 30 days to complete, even for routine policies. It’s a headache—so many steps, so much waiting. But at its heart, the delays are just a bunch of friction points stacking up, making it harder than it needs to be to get coverage. Let’s break it down to a simple formula: Insurance = R * D * T R = Risk evaluation - The effort needed to analyze risks or complexities in a process.         D = Documentation needs - The data and documents required, including accessibility and sharing.                                                                          T = Time invested across process steps - The time spent moving through each step, especially in handoffs. Here’s how we can optimize each of these to reduce friction: ➡️ To streamline R (Risk evaluation): ▪Use data-driven underwriting to analyze and identify risks faster ▪Automate parts of risk assessment to speed up processing ▪Apply AI to get a more accurate read on common risk factors for faster decision-making ➡️ To streamline D (Documentation needs): ▪ Digitize intake and make data easy to share between stakeholders ▪ Prepopulate routine questions with standardized data feeds to cut down on back-and-forth ▪ Set up documentation workflows that notify the right person at the right time ➡️ To streamline T (Time spent on process steps): ▪ Automate handoffs to eliminate the lag from broker to wholesaler to underwriter ▪Build shared platforms for wholesalers and underwriters to manage data in real-time ▪Use AI tools to review documents and flag issues instantly, so delays don’t build up Yes, it’s a simplified formula. But by tackling each of these elements, we can cut down the days or weeks it takes to secure a quote and bring commercial insurance closer to the 24-hour speed clients expect in other industries. What innovations have you seen—or would you like to see—that tackle these points of friction? #Insurtech #AI #FutureofInsurance

“Just make the team work faster.” Really? In a world obsessed with fast delivery, it’s easy to overlook the value of robust systems. If we think about it that line alone could fund our next vacation😁 ... ...but let’s be honest: 👉🏽 Most speed demands in product and project environments ignore the very systems that slow teams down in the first place. Here’s the truth: As a PM you’re not managing a clock. You’re managing a system. Yes, speed is seductive. But real velocity comes from clarity and not chaos. High-performing teams don’t burn out to move faster. They remove friction with: → Clear priorities → Streamlined approvals → Automated testing → Protected focus time This is what leads to fewer blockers, better flow, and sustainable delivery. So how do we approach the “impossible” pressure to move faster? We shift from panic to process. I use this S.Y.S.T.E.M. to reframe: S – Surface the Real Constraints Don’t absorb vague demands. Clarify goals, timelines, and what success actually looks like. Y – Yield Quick Wins Build trust by removing friction fast. Cancel one low-value meeting. Automate one manual task. S – Shine Light on Hidden Costs Use data: delays, rework, handoffs. Visibility changes the narrative. T – Translate Tech Debt into Business Language Speak in cost, risk, opportunity — not just in code. E – Establish Better Metrics than “Speed” Track predictability, quality, customer impact. Speed without value is just chaos. M – Make Bottlenecks Visible Use dashboards, reports, burn charts. Advocate with visuals, not blame. And when leadership says “go faster,” try saying: “We can push harder for short-term gains… or fix the systems for long-term velocity. Which outcome are we aiming for?” That’s leadership and not resistance. Remember you are not a magician. You are a systems thinker. You’re not there to do more with less indefinitely. You’re there to make better delivery possible for the business/organisation and the team. And if your environment isn’t built for that? Then maybe the problem… isn’t you. What’s the most unrealistic speed demand you’ve faced m and how did you handle it? Let’s hear your story Follow 👉 Benjamina Mbah Acha for insights that help you plan, execute, and deliver projects with confidence.

Your team is struggling to adopt a new product management tool. Training isn’t the problem—yet your team still reverts to meetings and Slack threads or abandons the software. Ever wonder why your team keeps falling back on old tools—even after training? What’s missing from your adoption strategy? Alignment between workflows and tool functionality. Training is important—but it’s not enough if the tool itself doesn’t align with how your team works day-to-day. As a product consultant, I’ve seen this firsthand when teams rush into configuration without auditing their processes first. Want higher adoption rates? Start here: 1️⃣ Map current workflows and identify the places where things are currently falling apart. 2️⃣ Connect the workflows your team is already doing to places where they should be using the tool. 3️⃣ Configure based on these insights—not just default settings. Adoption thrives when tools fit your workflows—not when they force teams to change overnight. Seen this happen on your team? What did you do to turn it around?

The gap between a project estimate and kick-off can be a killer. (Automation Tip Tuesday 👇) For service-based businesses (any business, really!), friction is the ultimate profit killer. A client agrees to the scope, but then… paperwork, approvals, deposits — it all creates delay and destroys momentum. One of our recent automation projects tackled this head-on. Our client, a high-end home remodeling firm, was using a host of tools to manage their workflows, but the process of moving from an estimate to a signed agreement (with a deposit) was still manual and disjointed. We streamlined it. Now: ✅ Estimates auto-generate in Airtable, pulling project details from a structured pricing database. ✅ Signed agreements trigger deposits automatically — Dubsado sends the contract, collects e-signatures, and instantly generates an invoice in QBO. ✅ Once the deposit is paid, the project kicks off in Google Calendar and updates the team’s task board. The result? Faster approvals, fewer dropped leads, and a smoother experience for homeowners eager to begin their renovations. Software should work for you, not slow you down. If your business has gaps in its process, automation might be the missing piece. What’s killing your momentum? -- Hi, I’m Nathan Weill, a business process automation expert. ⚡️ These tips I share every Tuesday are drawn from real-world projects we've worked on with our clients at Flow Digital. We help businesses unlock the power of automation with customized solutions so they can run better, faster and smarter — and we can help you too! #automationtiptuesday #automation #workflow #efficiency