Episode 05
Approved by Nobody
A recommendation turns into a decision because the responsible owner is absent.
THE SITUATION
What happened
Kentaro is asked to compare options for a supplier change. He gathers the evidence, describes the risks and recommends the option that best matches the stated priorities. The person who usually approves the decision is away. Someone replies “looks good” in the chat. Another person starts telling the wider team that the change has been approved. Kentaro asks whether the recommendation is now a decision and who authorised it. The room goes quiet. Everyone assumed somebody else had done it. The change is delayed, not because Kentaro failed to analyse it, but because nobody had defined how a recommendation becomes an approved action.
THE WORK TENSION
What went wrong
A recommendation and a decision are different things. When the approval route is invisible, casual agreement can be mistaken for authority.
The agent cannot safely bridge that gap by itself. It needs to know which person or role can approve, what evidence they need and what to do when that person is unavailable.
THE PRINCIPLE
Separate recommendation from approval.
“An agent needs an approval route, not a silent room.”
Name the approver, the evidence required, the decision deadline and the escalation path when the accountable person is absent.
FROM STORY TO HARNESS
How Kentaro Harness reduces this friction
Kentaro Harness can record the decision gate with the work, keep the recommendation reviewable and route an unresolved approval to the right owner. Kentaro does not need to turn a chat reaction into authority.
Explore Kentaro Harness