Temporary Fixes Have Long Memories 

When workarounds become the way you work 

Every organization has them: a spreadsheet created to solve a reporting problem, a manual billing adjustment

added because the system cannot handle an exception, or an extra approval step introduced after a mistake.

These fixes are often reasonable. They keep work moving when a system or process falls short. 

The real risk begins when a temporary workaround becomes permanent without anyone making a conscious decision to keep it. 

In associations, a workaround rarely stays confined to one area. A manual change in the AMS can affect membership billing.

That exception may create additional reconciliation work for finance. Reporting may still be accurate, but only because someone

knows which correction has to happen behind the scenes each month. 

Over time, the original reason for the workaround can disappear while the process remains. Staff change. Systems are upgraded.

Membership structures evolve. Responsibilities shift. Eventually, the next person inherits the steps without inheriting the history

behind them. 

That is how organizations end up maintaining processes that no one fully understands but everyone is reluctant to change. 

A manual process is not automatically a bad process. Some exceptions require human judgment, and some system

limitations make a workaround the most practical option. The question is whether the organization understands why the

process is manual, who owns it, what risk it creates, and whether it is still necessary. 

For every workaround, document three things: 

• WHY does it exist? Record the specific problem or condition that created it. 
• WHO owns it? Assign responsibility for monitoring the process and deciding whether it is still needed. 
• WHEN will it be reviewed? Give the workaround a review date. Temporary processes without review dates have a way of becoming permanent. 

Then ask: Does the original problem still exist? Has the system changed? Is the workaround creating new risk?

Can the process be simplified or retired? 

These questions matter because billing, reconciliations, membership records, reporting, and AMS workflows are interconnected.

A separate spreadsheet can create competing versions of the same information. A manual billing correction can create a

reconciliation issue. An undocumented AMS workaround can become institutional knowledge that leaves with one employee. 

Operational clarity does not require eliminating every workaround. It requires making workarounds visible, intentional,

owned, documented, and reviewable. 

Sometimes the most valuable improvement is not adding another solution. It is identifying which old solutions the

organization is still carrying forward. 

Temporary fixes can be useful. Permanent workarounds should be intentional. The question is not simply,

“Does this workaround work?” It is, “Do we still need it?”