When to use this
Use this when output feels lower than input — work is going in, but less is coming out than expected.
Signals you may recognise
- Items sit in the same status for days
- The same handoff keeps causing delay
- Work accumulates in one stage more than others
- Team members are waiting on the same person or step
Operational objective
Locate the stage where work is actually slowing down and reduce friction there.
Recommended mode
Maintenance
A FlowFixr Today mode that matches this situation.
The first move
Look at active work and find where it is waiting rather than where it is moving.
Step-by-step playbook
- Map active work into its real stages, not the ideal ones
- Identify the stage with the most items waiting
- Identify what specifically causes the wait
- Reduce or remove that specific friction
- Re-check after a few days — bottlenecks move
What to avoid
- Adding more work to a stage already blocked
- Optimising the fastest stage first
- Confusing effort with throughput
What good execution looks like
One outcome visibly moved. The rest was deliberately deferred, not silently dropped.
Operational insight
"Throughput is set by the slowest stage. Adding effort elsewhere rarely helps."
FlowFixr Today
Adapt this to your current state
This playbook addresses a common situation. FlowFixr Today adapts a daily strategy to how you're feeling and what matters right now.
Early AccessIn Development
Workflow Bottleneck Detection
Detect where work quietly accumulates across stages, handoffs and repeat patterns.
Related playbooks
- Workflow FrictionToo Many Active ProjectsReduce work-in-progress and restore operational clarity.Open
- Team OperationsSmall-Team Execution CheckIdentify signs of unclear ownership, competing priorities and workflow congestion.Open
- Workflow FrictionMeeting-Heavy DayProtect useful execution capacity around fragmented calendar conditions.Open