Approval queues vs full autonomy

Queues feel responsible. They also create a backlog that nobody owns and a reviewer who stops paying attention by item 30.

Use a queue when

• The action is irreversible
• The audience is external and high-trust
• Regulation requires a human signature

Skip the queue when

• Output is internal-only
• The action is reversible in under a minute
• Sampling at 5% would catch most issues

If you cannot tell which side a workflow falls on, run it through a queue for two weeks, then audit how often the reviewer made changes. The data will pick the side for you.