Approvals should have a clock

A lot of work does not stall because somebody rejected it. It stalls because an approval request vanishes into silence.

A draft was ready. A budget needed a signoff. A decision was sitting in somebody's queue. Nobody knew whether it had been seen, how long it had been waiting, or whether the delay was about to block the next step.

That is usually treated like a communication problem. Most of the time it is a timing problem.

If a workflow needs approval, the approval should have a clock. People should be able to see when it was sent, how long it has been waiting, and when it starts putting the rest of the work at risk.

This does not mean every approval needs alarms and escalation drama. It means routine work should not disappear into a black hole just because nobody can tell whether a decision is late.

Good systems make waiting visible. Then people can step in early, unblock the work, and spend their attention where judgment actually matters.