1. It was built top-down
Someone far from the job wrote the workflow. The desk got the screens. You got the leftovers. People go back to spreadsheets, side folders, and screenshots. The official record is no longer the record anyone trusts.
2. It adds friction instead of removing it
Every click that does not move the job is a tax. Extra tabs. Duplicate forms. Training that exists only because the product is unclear. The stack gets heavier. The work does not.
3. It treats safety as a cost center
The budget treats the software as overhead. Fees, implementation, and change orders can crowd out delivery speed. A firm that can set up the next client with less effort has more time for the work.
4. It locks proof inside the vendor’s walls
Clients ask for evidence. Policies, actions, status. The proof sits in a vendor screen or a PDF that goes stale the day it leaves. Export is painful. The people who need the program cannot see it.
5. It chases regulation first and work second
Rules matter. They are not the whole job. Software built only around clause maps looks finished in a demo and falls apart on a real book of clients. Start from how you deliver. Attach the rule after.
Do not make the field adapt to the desk tool. Build for the people doing the work. Complicated compliance. Simple software.