Use this worksheet to identify why routine work reaches the owner. Keep it for five ordinary working days. Record interruptions without judging the person asking; the purpose is to find missing information or authority in the system.
Worksheet fields
Date/time: [ ]. Request: [ ]. Requester/role: [ ]. Time spent: [ ]. Decision required: [ ]. Why the founder was needed: [ ]. Risk if delayed: [ ]. Repeat request? [yes/no].
After resolving each item, select one category: information, permission, skill, genuine exception or unclear responsibility. If several categories apply, record the primary one and a note.
Review after day five
Group similar requests. Add their combined time, including the founder's time to regain focus where it can reasonably be estimated. Do not treat a rough estimate as a precise cost saving.
Choose one recurring category with manageable risk. A permission problem might need a spending limit; an information problem might need a shared reference; a skill problem might require supervised practice. Write down the proposed owner and the cases that must still escalate.
Repeat the log after making that change. Check whether repeat requests fell and whether mistakes or customer delays increased. An interruption may disappear because staff stop asking for help, so include a short team discussion.
Keep sensitive customer details out of a general worksheet. Reference the secure case record instead. The log is a tool for redesigning work, not for creating another uncontrolled store of personal information.