We finally got tired of project requests landing in our laps through every channel imaginable — hallway chats, emails, the occasional sticky note — so we built an actual front door. Every new project now starts as a form submission, which we can open to the whole workspace or lock down to specific people depending on who should be raising requests.

Behind that form sits an approval workflow — and it can run multiple levels deep when a request needs a few sets of eyes before it's blessed. The nice part is what happens after: once it's approved, it flows straight through into our live projects list through automation, carrying the key details across the next table. No re-typing, no requests. This ensures that the key details are not missed and avoids the need to enter the same details again.

I'd love to hear how other teams are running intake. Is it a form-and-approval setup like ours, or something more lightweight? And where do you draw the line on how many approval levels is 'enough' before it starts feeling like bureaucracy?