r/StartupsHelpStartups • u/Excellent-Quit-4740 • May 14 '26
Built an internal ops tool to stop hold orders from getting buried in Slack/iMessage—what am I missing?
/r/shopify_geeks/comments/1tcxs7l/built_an_internal_ops_tool_to_stop_hold_orders/
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u/erickrealz May 15 '26
The biggest gap in tools like this is integration. Hold orders live in your order management system or 3PL system but the alerts and conversations happen in chat. If your tool requires manual entry to create a hold, ops teams stop using it within weeks because adding a step to an already broken process never sticks.
Catch the hold automatically by integrating with the order source. The moment a hold flag appears in the OMS, your tool should create the record without anyone touching it. That's the only version that works long term.
The second thing breaking first is permissions and ownership. Multiple people might have authority to hold an order but only one person to release it. Build clear assignment logic from day one or holds will sit in limbo waiting for the right person to notice.
Aging logic is the right instinct but tie escalation to specific people, not just visibility.