Trackline
When you do not need a process
Turning everything into a process is the second-month mistake. Some requests are settled with a message.
When something works, the temptation is to use it for everything. A month in, single-step processes start appearing, with one person and one document — which is exactly a well-written message's job, with three configuration screens in front of it.
What fits where
| Situation | A message is enough | Worth a process |
|---|---|---|
| One document, one person, once | Yes | — |
| The same thing to several people at once | — | Yes: the follow-up runs itself |
| Something that will repeat every year | — | Yes, even if today it is one |
| Several items to review and approve | — | Yes, that is where the difference lies |
| An urgent favour from someone you trust | Yes | — |
Important
The distinction that orders all this is not size: **it is whether someone will have to chase it**. A document that either arrives today or does not needs no structure. One that has to be chased three times, that expires, that someone else must approve or that you will be asked for again next year does — and building it then costs the same as building it now, except that now you have not chased anybody yet.
What you lose by doing too little
Watch out
And what you lose by doing too much, which gets flagged less often: **a single-step process asks the other side to go somewhere to hand over one thing**. For an outsider that is more friction than replying to an email, and friction is paid for in answers that never arrive. If the goal is for them to send something today, what matters is that it is easy for the sender, not comfortable for the filer.
The rule that works in practice
- 1
One-off and nothing to chase: message
And filed in the right place on arrival.
- 2
Repeats, expires or needs approval: process
Even if today it affects one person only.
- 3
And if it started as a message and you are on the third chase
That was already a process: convert it before the fourth.
Worth knowing
Turning a one-off into a process later is not starting over: what you already received gets folded in. What cannot be recovered is the trail of the times you chased it outside the system.
›What if I do not know whether it will repeat?
Start simple. The third time will tell you.
›Is a one-step process a mistake?
Not if it buys a trail and reminders. Yes, if it only adds clicks.
›Can I ask by email and still file it?
Yes, but filing by hand depends on someone remembering.
A real case
The situation
A company builds a full process to ask a trusted client for a one-off certificate.
What you do
- Asks by message and builds the process for the annual renewal, which does repeat
What you get
The document arrives the same day and the repeating part is set up where it matters.
The situation
A process is built to request one document from a colleague.
What you do
- Asks them by message and they upload it
What you get
Processes are reserved for what repeats.
The situation
A process is built for something that happens once a year.
What you do
- Handles it by hand this time and decides next year
What you get
No template is maintained for an annual case.
The situation
Something urgent is needed and building it would delay the request.
What you do
- Requests it directly and records it afterwards
What you get
The urgency is served without losing the trail.
The situation
A process is built and nobody uses it again.
What you do
- Archives templates that are not launched
What you get
The list reflects what is actually used.
The situation
What began as an exception is now requested weekly.
What you do
- Turns it into a process once it repeats
What you get
The decision is revisited against real usage.
This article answers
- when to use a process and when not
- setting up a process for a single document
- this is too much for what I need
- asking for something one-off