How to track approvals without losing a week in someone's inbox
Ask a small team where its projects stall and the honest answer is usually not "the work". It is the approval. The design waiting for the client's sign-off. The budget waiting for the director. The contract waiting for legal. The work is done, the ball is in someone else's court, and nobody is watching it.
Tracking approvals is less about software and more about making the wait visible.
Treat every approval as an action in someone else's hands
The common mistake is to tick the task done when you send something for approval. "Sent design to client" goes to Done, and the approval disappears from view.
Instead, the moment you send it, the action changes owner. It now belongs to the client, with the action still open:
- "Client approves homepage design" (waiting on: Dana, sent 4 Oct)
That one change keeps the approval on your board until it actually happens.
Name the person, not the organisation
"Waiting on Acme" is not chaseable. "Waiting on Dana at Acme" is. Approvals that involve committees or departments still need a named person who will answer your follow-up.
Note when you asked
The single most useful piece of data about an approval is how long it has been waiting. Write the date you asked, or use a tool that tracks it. In Axtio, actions in the Other court show their age automatically: a muted day count from four days, red at seven, and anything that red counts toward the toolbar's "to chase" button.
Chase on a rhythm, not on a feeling
Most people chase approvals when they suddenly remember, often too late. A simple rule works better:
- Day 3: a light nudge
- Day 7: a direct follow-up with the consequence ("we need this by Friday to keep the launch date")
- Day 10: escalate, or change the plan
Pick numbers that fit your work, and stick to them. See manage follow-ups without notes.
Make approving easy
A lot of delay is not neglect. It is friction. Make the approver's job easy:
- Say exactly what you need: "Reply yes to approve, or list changes"
- Give a date and why it matters
- Send one clear link, not five attachments
- Offer a five-minute call if it is complex
For documents that need formal signatures, e-signature tools remove the print-sign-scan loop. See remove bottlenecks in document signing.
Separate "approved" from "done"
When the approval arrives, the action comes back into your court: implement the feedback, or move on. Approval is a hand-back, not an end. On a 2D board, that is the action moving from Other back into Mine.
Review approvals weekly
In your weekly review, look only at the waiting column for a minute. Which approvals are oldest? Which ones are blocking the most work? That one minute prevents most stalled projects. See weekly project reviews on one board.
The work you have done is not finished until someone else says so. Track that last step as carefully as the work itself.