We Automated the Approval and Kept Every Day of the Wait

Description and use

Automating approvals reduced paperwork but did not shorten overall change lead time because the real bottleneck was a weekly meeting. Automation made the wait visible and professional but did not address the delay.

Problem

Automating approval steps reduced paperwork but did not shorten overall change lead time because the real bottleneck was a weekly board meeting.

Outcome

Lead time from request to deployment did not change; automation made the existing four‑day wait invisible and professional, but did not address the real bottleneck.

Workflow

• Create pull request with template
• Template auto‑creates ticket in issue tracker
• Ticket notifies approvers via tool
• Approvers sign off in tool
• Tool logs state transitions and attaches evidence
• Deploy after approvals

Evidence

Lead time from request to deployment did not move at all.

Source

The delay had never been in the paperwork. It was in the weekly board meeting that approvals waited for.

Source