Common Mistakes in Workflow Evaluation to Avoid

I watched a $50M hospital expansion get delayed by 8 months because of one email sitting in someone's inbox. The approval was ready. The budget was approved. The contractors were waiting. But the project manager had no visibility into where things stood. After working with 200+ organizations, I've seen the same manual workflow mistakes destroy project timelines and team morale. Here are the 5 most damaging ones: → Spreadsheet dependency for project tracking Teams lose hours updating multiple versions, and critical details slip through the cracks. One outdated cell can derail an entire milestone. → Chasing approvals through email chains Decision-makers get buried in their inboxes while projects sit idle. What should take 2 days stretches into 2 weeks. → Disconnected systems creating data silos Finance uses one tool, operations uses another, leadership gets reports from a third. Nobody has the complete picture. → Manual status reporting that's outdated before it's sent By the time you compile that weekly report, three new issues have emerged and two "green" items turned red. → Lack of structured accountability When everything is tracked informally, nothing gets tracked consistently. Problems surface too late to fix them effectively. Behind every delayed project are dedicated professionals trying to deliver value to their communities. They deserve better than being trapped in operational chaos. The solution isn't just better software. It's structured workflows that create transparency and accountability from day one. What workflow challenge is slowing down your current projects?

“Faster garbage is still garbage.” A client wanted to automate their proposal workflow. Quote speed was slow. Reps were frustrated. We looked under the hood: – 40% of proposals had errors – Legal had no standardized approval triggers – Product bundling logic was legacy and misaligned with pricing They weren’t slow because of inefficiency. They were slow because everyone was stopping to fix things. Automation would have just cemented dysfunction. ✅ What we did instead: – Paused the automation work – Rebuilt proposal templates with version control – Created guardrails on SKUs based on actual margin behavior – Used a custom ChatGPT to test business logic against past deals before rollout 🎯 The mistake we avoided: – Treating speed as a metric of success – Confusing tools with transformation 📌 You don’t need to automate your quoting. You need to make sure what you’re quoting is right. 📥 Follow me for more insights. Repost if this resonated.

A lack of process, documentation, and SOPs can cost your agency thousands of $$$ per month. A lack of process leads to: ➝ Nobody knowing what to do ➝ Missed deadlines ➝ Things slipping through the cracks ➝ Significant decreases in productivity ➝ Misaligned expectations across the team or with clients ➝ CHAOS Here's two common mistakes surrounding a lack of process documentation and how to solve them: ❌ Incomplete Task Descriptions Agencies often have tasks built but they lack details explaining the actual work needed. For example, a task is named "Draft blog post" but doesn't include any information about topic, length, voice, or other requirements. Why it fails: ➝ Team members don't have enough context to complete tasks effectively. ➝ You end up providing details over chat which is difficult to search later. ➝ Important requirements get overlooked since they aren't captured in ClickUp. ❌ Unclear Expectations Beyond task names, there's no info provided about what constitutes successfully completing the work. For example, a social media post task doesn't specify the number of posts, which networks to use, or any client expectations. Why it fails: ➝ Work may be completed differently than expected, requiring revisions. ➝ Team members use inconsistent approaches rather than following guidelines. ➝ Quality and adherence to brand standards drops without clear expectations set. ✅ Here's how to avoid these mistakes: The process needs to live where the work gets done. This is a foundational component of the ZenPilot methodology. If you want to create clarity for your team, every task needs to have the 4 C's: 1️⃣ Concise name - Use a clear, short name (this should be a verb) summarizing the work. 2️⃣ Context - Provide background like goals, relevant links, and supporting materials from the client. Make sure your account managers document and provide context to the team! 3️⃣ Checklist - Outline the exact steps & requirements needed to complete the task. 4️⃣ Criteria - Provide the process that defines what constitutes a job well done. ------------ ✋ Is there anything else you'd add?