You built an intake system. You run weekly triage meetings. Your team follows a clear process for prioritizing work.
But stakeholders still walk up with urgent requests. They send direct messages asking for quick fixes. They pull developers into hallway conversations about features.
This does not mean your intake system failed. It means the system needs clearer pathways and more predictable access points.
Why Drive-By Requests Keep Happening
Three patterns drive informal requests.
Lack of clarity. Stakeholders cannot distinguish between urgent issues needing immediate attention and planned work that should follow the intake process. When the path is unclear, they ask whoever seems available.
Urgency becomes default. Without a clear escalation process for time-sensitive issues, stakeholders treat everything as urgent. Teams stay reactive instead of proactive.
Workarounds become culture. If the official process feels slow or unresponsive, people route around it. The workaround becomes more common than the intended process.
The fix is not stricter enforcement. It is clearer structure that serves both immediate needs and long-term planning.
The Two-Door Approach
Most intake systems treat all requests the same way. Everything gets logged in the backlog and waits for the next triage meeting. This creates friction because not all requests have the same urgency or timeline.
A better approach uses two distinct pathways.
Door 1: The Support Lane
This handles immediate, time-sensitive needs. Urgent clarifications that unblock work. Critical bugs affecting users right now. Questions requiring quick answers to keep projects moving.
The support lane is not for new features or strategic work. It provides predictable, rapid responses to genuine urgency. Assign a rotating role or dedicated team member to monitor this lane with response times within hours, not days.
When people know help is available predictably through an official channel, they stop creating their own emergency escalation paths.
Door 2: The Roadmap Lane
This handles strategic work. New features, planned improvements, enhancements requiring prioritization against other business goals. These requests follow your established intake process and get reviewed during weekly triage meetings.
Make this path highly visible through onboarding materials, team meetings, and internal documentation. The clearer you communicate which door handles which work, the less friction stakeholders experience.
When stakeholders understand which door to use, the system becomes self-reinforcing. Support handles urgency. Roadmap handles strategy. Both needs get met without disrupting focus.
Use Response Scripts
Decision fatigue drains focus. When someone approaches with an unplanned request, team members must decide in the moment how to respond.
Response scripts provide consistent language everyone can use.
For roadmap requests through informal channels: “Thanks for bringing this up. Please submit it through the intake form so we can prioritize it during our weekly triage meeting.”
For urgent issues: “This sounds time-sensitive. Let me connect you with our support rotation so you can get help quickly.”
When everyone uses the same language, stakeholders learn the process works. Consistency builds trust.
Set Predictable Access
Unpredictable availability invites constant interruptions. If team members seem available anytime, stakeholders will ask anytime.
Establish weekly office hours where designated team members are explicitly available for questions and brief discussions. Promote this time in team meetings, internal channels, and documentation.
Office hours create a designated outlet for informal questions that will always exist. Someone needs clarification on a requirement. A product manager wants to validate an approach. A content lead has a quick feasibility question.
These conversations have value, but they do not need to happen randomly throughout the week. Predictable access reduces interruptions while still providing needed support.
What Success Looks Like
Two indicators show your system works effectively.
Interruptions decrease. Teams spend less time context switching. Developers regain focus needed for complex problem solving.
Work in progress drops. Instead of juggling ten partially completed tasks, teams focus on three or four high-priority items. Delivery speed and quality both improve.
Stakeholders feel heard because their requests move through a predictable process. Teams feel respected because structure protects their focus.
The Alignment Benefit
Stopping drive-by requests aligns the three experiences that shape platform health.
Audience Experience improves because critical issues get resolved quickly through the support lane. Creator Experience improves because stakeholders know where to go for help. Developer Experience improves because engineers work with clarity and focus.
Clarity reduces friction. Structure protects focus.
Where to Start
If your team faces constant interruptions, add clearer pathways.
Define two doors. Create a support lane for urgent issues with predictable response times. Maintain your roadmap lane for strategic work following the intake process.
Develop response scripts. Establish weekly office hours.
Small structural changes create significant momentum.
Which pathway does your team need to clarify first?
