The Approval Required step marks a point in the workflow where progress stops until a specific person reviews and approves the work. It is one of the most important step types to get right because approval delays are one of the five most common bottleneck patterns in business workflows.
WHEN TO USE IT
Use Approval Required whenever:
- A contract must be signed off before it goes to the client
- A budget needs authorisation before spending can proceed
- Content must be reviewed and cleared before publishing
- A decision requires a specific person to say yes before work continues
Do not use it for general reviews where work can continue regardless of the outcome. If the work only stops when the answer is no, use a Decision Point instead.
FIELDS
Title
Name it clearly. "Approve Client Contract", "Review and Sign Off Campaign Brief", "Authorise Purchase Order".
Summary
A brief description of what is being approved and why this approval gate exists.
Approver
The specific person or role who approves. Be as specific as possible. "The team" or "management" are not useful here. Name the individual or the role (e.g. "Founder", "Finance Director", "Head of Operations").
Approval Criteria
What conditions must be met for approval to be granted? What is the approver actually checking? Capturing this turns a vague approval gate into a documented standard.
Required Approvals
If multiple people must approve, note how many are needed. This surfaces serial chain approval bottlenecks where each person adds their own delay.
Time Estimate
How long does approval typically take? Enter this honestly. If the answer is "it depends on when the founder gets round to it", that is important information.
Escalation Path
Who does the work go to if approval is delayed or the approver is unavailable? If the answer is nobody, that is a single point of failure. This field forces the question of whether a backup plan actually exists.
Notes and Reference Link
Any additional context or a link to the approval criteria document or policy.
WHY THIS MATTERS IN DISCOVERY SESSIONS
When you encounter an approval step during a discovery session, probe it with these questions:
"Who specifically approves this?" Get a name, not a team.
"How long does approval typically take?" Listen for anything over 24 hours.
"What happens if they are unavailable?" The answer is usually that nothing can happen.
"Is there a backup approver?" The answer is usually no.
These four questions almost always reveal a bottleneck. FixFlow will flag it in the report. The escalation path field in the step is where you document whatever backup process (or lack of one) exists.
THE TWO TYPES OF APPROVAL DELAY
Single-person bottleneck: Only one person can approve. If they are unavailable, everything stops.
Serial chain: Multiple people approve in sequence. Each person in the chain adds their own delay. A contract going to a founder, then a solicitor, then an accountant before it can go out is a serial chain.
Both types surface in FixFlow findings. Understanding which type you are dealing with shapes the solution you recommend.