Quality Gate
Work goes straight to the client. Sometimes it's great; sometimes you wish you'd caught it. A quality gate is a checkpoint in your process where work is reviewed for quality before moving forward. It prevents bad work from reaching clients and makes delegation safe—you're not redoing everything; you're reviewing at one point and holding the bar.
Same process, with and without a gate. Without: the associate sends the report to the client. You see it after. Sometimes you cringe. With a gate: the associate sends the report to you first. You review. You approve or send back with feedback. When it passes, it goes to the client. One checkpoint. You've held the bar without doing the whole thing. The gate is the core of quality assurance—the system that ensures consistent quality.
A checkpoint where work is reviewed before it moves on. You hold the bar there.
How to use it
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Pick the right moment. Where does work "ship" to the client? That's the gate. Draft → you review → client. Or: associate runs the session → you review the notes and follow-up before it goes out. One clear checkpoint.
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Define pass/fail. What does "good enough to ship" look like? Not vague—specific. "All sections complete, tone matches our voice, numbers checked." When it doesn't pass, send back with clear feedback. The delegate learns; the gate gets faster over time.
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Don't skip it. The gate only works if work doesn't go around it. If you're "too busy" to review, you've removed the gate and you're back to hoping. Protect the gate; it's what makes delegation sustainable.