Every operation I’ve worked in had at least one workaround that everybody knew about and nobody had priced.
A spreadsheet someone rebuilds every morning because two systems don’t agree. A daily export that gets cleaned up by hand. A status call that exists because nobody trusts the status. A second review because the first step sometimes misses something.
None of these show up as a line in the budget. That’s the problem. When a leader compares “fix it” against “leave it,” the fix arrives with a quote and the workaround looks free.
It isn’t free. It’s just paid in a currency nobody reports.
This edition is a worksheet. It won’t give you my numbers, because mine don’t matter. It gives you a way to put a defensible number on one workaround in your own operation, in about an hour, with people who actually do the work.
Why workarounds never get priced
A new system has to be approved, so someone does the math. A workaround never goes through that door. It starts as a temporary fix, it works well enough, and a year later it’s part of someone’s job description.
Three things keep it invisible:
- The cost is spread thin. A few minutes here, a re-check there, across several people. No single moment looks expensive.
- It’s counted as work, not waste. The people running the workaround are busy, so it looks like productivity.
- The biggest cost lands somewhere else. The person doing the workaround isn’t the one waiting on its output.
That last one is why this worksheet has four lines, not one.
Pick one workaround
Don’t price everything. Pick one workaround that meets three tests:
- It happens at least weekly.
- You can name the people who run it.
- Something downstream waits while it happens.
If you work in specialty pharmacy or infusion, a referral that gets re-keyed from one system into another, or an intake packet that gets checked twice because the first check can’t be trusted, are good candidates. Every industry has its own version.
Then sit down with the people who do it. Not their manager. The people.
The worksheet
Fill in your own figures. Where you have to estimate, estimate low. A conservative number that survives a challenge is worth more than a big one that doesn’t.
Line 1. Time How long does one run of the workaround take, end to end?
- Minutes per run: ____
- People involved per run: ____
- Time per run = minutes × people
Line 2. Frequency How often does it run?
- Runs per week: ____
- Hours per week = (time per run × runs per week) ÷ 60
- Hours per year = hours per week × your working weeks
Line 3. Rework How often does the work come back for a second pass because of it: something missed, re-entered, corrected or re-checked?
- Share of runs that come back: ____ %
- Minutes to fix each one: ____
- Rework hours per year = runs per year × share that comes back × minutes to fix ÷ 60
Line 4. Downstream delay While the workaround runs, what waits? A start date, a shipment, a bill, a decision, a customer.
- Days added per case (typical, not worst case): ____
- Cases affected per year: ____
- What one day of delay costs, if you can price it: ____ (revenue that starts later, cash collected later, a commitment missed)
- Delay cost per year = days added × cases × cost of one day
Then add it up:
Annual cost = (Line 2 hours + Line 3 hours) × your loaded hourly cost + Line 4
Use your organization’s own loaded hourly cost. Finance usually has it. If they don’t, ask.
If you can’t price Line 4
That’s common, and it’s not a reason to skip it.
Write down the days instead. “This workaround adds about ____ days to ____ cases a year” is still a number a leadership team can react to. In my experience, the delay line is often the one that changes the conversation, because it’s the one that reaches the customer or the patient.
Just don’t invent a dollar figure to make the total look bigger. The day count is more honest than a guess, and it’s harder to argue with.
A few rules that keep the number honest
- Don’t count the same minute twice. If rework is already inside your “minutes per run,” leave Line 3 out.
- Use the typical week, not the worst one. You’ll be asked.
- Check it with the people doing the work. If they laugh at your estimate, it’s wrong, usually low.
- Write down your assumptions next to the number. The number gets challenged. The assumptions are what make it hold up.
What the number is for
Now divide the annual cost by four.
That’s roughly what it costs to leave this workaround alone for one more quarter, and the cost rarely stays flat. Volume grows. The workaround picks up exceptions. More people learn it, and it gets harder to remove.
That quarterly figure is the honest comparison when someone says “let’s revisit this next quarter.” Waiting isn’t free either. It has the same price as the workaround.
You may find the number is small. That’s a useful result: it tells you to spend your attention somewhere else.
If it’s bigger than you expected, the next question isn’t “which platform should we buy?” It’s “what exactly is this workaround compensating for, and what’s the smallest change that removes it?”
That’s the question I built the Operational Systems Assessment around. One workflow, mapped as it actually runs: where it stalls, who owns the next move, and what the data can and can’t show today. It takes 7–10 business days, it’s a fixed price, and it ends with a written recommendation to stop, adjust or run a bounded pilot. When something does need to be built, it’s software that runs in the background of your existing systems — no new platforms to manage, nothing to rip and replace.
You don’t need me to run the worksheet, though. Run it this week on one workaround. The number is yours either way.