More tools ≠ more progress. People don’t hate change — they hate five extra clicks.
The fastest teams design Golden Paths: one clear, pre-approved way to do the common things.
🔧 The Hack
• Pick one journey (brief→launch · hire→onboard · issue→resolution).
• Measure Time-to-Done. Count handoffs, approvals, logins, forms.
• Delete 3 steps this week. Automate/merge the rest.
• Publish a Golden Path (DRI/owner, ≤7 steps, SLO in mins/hours, guardrails). Make it default.
🎧 Real-world cue — Spotify
Platform teams paved “golden paths” for common workflows. Fewer choices, fewer steps, faster shipping. UX for work, not just for users.
🤖 Why now
Agentic AI will act on your system. If workflows are messy, it scales chaos. If they’re clean, it scales value.
⏱️ 7-Minute Path Test (run today)
Pick a journey.
Start a timer. Count handoffs, approvals, logins, forms.
Stop at Done. That number = your Friction Score.
🚩 Red flags
• 3+ approvals for routine work
• 2+ tools doing the same job
• Steps no one can explain in one sentence
✅ Quick wins (ship in a week)
• Delete 3 steps (merge/automate or kill)
• Publish a Golden Path (owner, ≤7 steps, SLO, guardrails)
• Make one Decision Log public (DRI, options, risks, review date)
BRAIN FIRST. TOOLS LATER.