Start with the work that keeps returning to your desk

You open a customer email that your team has already discussed. Someone needs you to confirm a price, interpret an exception, or decide what to promise. You answer, return to your work, and face a similar question the next day.

Before you assign that work to a person or an AI assistant, examine why your team sends it back. You may hold a decision rule that no one has written down. Two documents may give different instructions. A team member may understand the answer but lack permission to act.

Each cause calls for a different change.

You may have handed over the task while keeping the criteria and authority your team needs to make the decision.

Follow one request from arrival to completion

Choose a recurring request and review several recent examples with the people who handled them. Record who received it, what information they needed, who approved the response, and where they waited. Separate time spent doing the work from time spent waiting for a decision.

In an illustrative service business, a coordinator might draft a quote in twenty minutes and wait two days for the owner to approve a routine exception. Faster drafting would leave that wait untouched. The owner and coordinator need to establish which exceptions the coordinator can approve and which require the owner's judgment.

Use the documents and experience you have. Your team may already have examples of good decisions, customer history, and a pricing guide. Check whether people can find those materials and whether they agree.

Decide what deserves a test

You have several options. Remove a step that no longer serves a purpose. Clarify a decision boundary. Give someone permission to act within it. Consider AI assistance for a defined task, such as preparing a draft from approved information, once you understand the task and its limits.

Choose a small test with a named owner and a way to return to the previous process. Before you begin, record the current waiting time and the number of requests that reach you. During the test, count corrections as well as completed requests.

You may discover that your team needs your judgment for fewer decisions than your inbox suggests. You may also find exceptions that should continue to reach you. Both findings help you decide where to spend your attention.