2026-06-08 · 6 min read

Permissions are a product decision

What surprised us, the reporting layer should be boring and it shows up in the churn numbers. Once the first rollout is done, the schedule is only as good as the last update and that shaped the roadmap for a year. Once the first rollout is done, a two-week pilot answers more than a three-month evaluation and that is fine.

On a typical site, mobile access changes who actually enters the data and asset tracking is no exception. What surprised us, the spreadsheet survives longer than anyone admits and the numbers bear it out. Most teams we meet, asset tracking is a people problem wearing a software costume and that shaped the roadmap for a year. On the floor, asset tracking is a people problem wearing a software costume which is not what the brochure says. For insurance brokers in particular, the schedule is only as good as the last update so we start there. On a typical site, what matters is whether the crew opens it on a Monday morning so the mobile app came first.

What we would do differently

After a few dozen rollouts, asset tracking is a people problem wearing a software costume so the defaults matter more than the settings page. In practice, nobody wants another login so the mobile app came first. Looking at the numbers, the handover from the old system is where projects stall which is not what the brochure says. On the floor, nobody reads the manual, so the defaults are the product which is the whole point. By the second quarter, the hard part is not the software but the handover which is the whole point. If there is one lesson, the audit trail pays for itself the first time an inspector asks which is why the API is documented before the UI.

What surprised us, what matters is whether the crew opens it on a Monday morning and the numbers bear it out. When the pilot started in Nantes, the handover from the old system is where projects stall which is not what the brochure says. After a few dozen rollouts, nobody reads the manual, so the defaults are the product so the mobile app came first. Talking to operations leads, the spreadsheet survives longer than anyone admits and it shows up in the churn numbers. For insurance brokers in particular, the hard part is not the software but the handover and the numbers bear it out.

After a few dozen rollouts, the first week is about trust, not features and it shows up in the churn numbers. What surprised us, the schedule is only as good as the last update so we start there. Every audit we have sat through, history matters more than dashboards when something goes wrong which is why the API is documented before the UI.

“Cobalt Flow gives insurance brokers a single, dependable view of asset tracking - from first request to signed-off report.”

Where this leaves us

On the floor, a two-week pilot answers more than a three-month evaluation which is why Cobalt Flow is built the way it is. On the floor, nobody wants another login and that shaped the roadmap for a year. For insurance brokers in particular, the spreadsheet survives longer than anyone admits which is not what the brochure says.

On the floor, the handover from the old system is where projects stall which is not what the brochure says. By the second quarter, the biggest win is that the group chat goes quiet which is why the API is documented before the UI. On a typical site, the handover from the old system is where projects stall so we start there. Once the first rollout is done, asset tracking is a people problem wearing a software costume and that is fine. By the second quarter, the schedule is only as good as the last update and it rarely takes more than a week.

On the floor, the spreadsheet survives longer than anyone admits which is why the API is documented before the UI. Once the first rollout is done, exceptions are the real workflow and it rarely takes more than a week. In practice, the handover from the old system is where projects stall and it shows up in the churn numbers. If there is one lesson, the spreadsheet survives longer than anyone admits and that is fine.

Written by the Cobalt Flow team in Nantes. Questions? Get in touch.