A few weeks ago, I took my family to a quick-serve pizza place. The food is good, but the ordering process is so cumbersome I mention it to my family every time we go.
Here's how it works: You order at the counter. The order taker asks for everything - your name, how many pizzas, crust style, toppings. They write all of this on a wax paper form that sits between the pizza tray and the dough. The tray moves down the line.
The next worker proceeds to ask many of the same questions. They look at the form, but they don't trust it. Or maybe it doesn't have the information they need. Either way, they ask again.
This continues down the line to at least one more person. Then you get to the register, where you have to tell them what you ordered. Again.
And this pattern repeats for virtually every person in your party.
Someone Designed This on Purpose
This process wasn't an accident. Someone designed it with good intentions. The wax paper form exists for a reason. Probably to reduce errors and increase speed. Write everything down once, pass it along, minimize miscommunication.
That logic might have made sense at some point. Maybe it still does, and I'm missing something. But from the customer side, it's frustrating. And based on the repetitive questions, the staff either don't trust the form, don't understand it, or it doesn't contain what they actually need.
This Is What Technology Workflows Look Like
Many organizations have technology workflows that look exactly like this. Someone designed a workflow years ago with good intentions. Maybe it even worked at the time. Forms were created. Steps were documented. Training happened.
But now staff work around the official process. They ask questions the system should have already answered. They duplicate work because they don't trust the data. Leadership sees the workarounds but assumes "this is just how it works."
The system technically exists. But nobody's using it the way it was designed.
The Cost Isn't Always Obvious
The pizza restaurant still functions. I still get my food. But I go less often than I would if the experience were smoother. And I'd bet the staff find the process frustrating too - constantly asking questions that should already be answered, dealing with customers who are visibly annoyed.
Leadership might not even know there's a problem. Nothing's broken. Orders get fulfilled. The process is "working."
But working and efficient aren't the same thing. And working and creating a good experience definitely aren't the same thing.
When Was the Last Time Someone Asked?
I don't know if the pizza place is stuck in "we've always done it this way" thinking. Maybe there's a good reason for the process. Maybe the form actually does reduce errors in ways I'm not seeing. Maybe changing it would create bigger problems.
But I do know this: the process creates friction. And I'd be surprised if anyone has recently asked whether it still makes sense.
Not "can we make this process better?" but "should this process exist at all?"
Are you solving for efficiency or experience? And whose experience matters - the people doing the work, or the people who designed the system?
The systems your team uses every day work the same way. Processes get designed with good intentions. They made sense at the time. But circumstances change. Staff changes. Technology changes. And nobody circles back to ask whether the original design still serves its purpose.
Sometimes the Answer Is Yes
Sometimes you investigate and discover the process should stay exactly as it is. There's a good reason for the redundancy. The workarounds exist because staff don't understand the system, not because the system is broken.
That's fine. At least you know.
But you can't know that without asking. And you can't ask if you assume everything that's currently working must be working well.
I don't know if I'll keep going back to that pizza place. The food is good enough that maybe I will. But the experience makes me think twice every time.
Your technology processes might be doing the same thing to your staff. And you might not know it until you ask.