The Quiz: AI Writes in 30 Secs, Why is Approval still Days?
Take the quiz: Human-in-the-loop or something else? This Pattern appears when the work output appears to be completed but the decision to release the work takes much longer. AI and Automation now makes the contrast more obvious.
AI Writes It in 30 Seconds, Why Does Approval Still Take Days?
Creating the output got faster, but did your approval chain move as fast?
Take five quick questions to find out whether your approvals still live in the old centre of gravity.
How Far Into the Approval Folklore Are You?
Five quick questions (hopefully your approval chain does not with to review the quiz first 🙃).
What do you think is going on here?
The reply then waits nine days while four people approve:
- the tone;
- the risk;
- the formatting;
- and whether the other three approvals were sufficient.
The only authorised approver is away for two weeks. What happens next?
Which sentence sounds most familiar?
True or false?
The final approver leaves the organisation tomorrow. What happens?
Does this feel familiar?
Try the free five-minute check: Where Is the Work Waiting?
Pick one finished item and follow where it waits.
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The output is complete, but the waiting is still in progress.
This is Pattern spotting, not an organisational diagnosis. Real approvals should exist for good reasons. The useful question is whether anyone can still explain the why.
So… what did you just spot?
The Approval Black Hole appears when completed work waits longer for a decision than it took to create.
AI and automation now makes the contrast more obvious but AI did not invent this phenomenon. Some approvals are useful but the question is whether anyone can still explain why each approval level exists.