By Dan Allen, Founder – Allen App Tools
Over the last five-plus years, I’ve personally had hundreds of conversations with business owners, operations managers, admins, and founders who rely on Google Workspace to run their companies.
These weren’t polished discovery calls or carefully written briefs. They were real messages: job posts, interviews, invites, half-formed questions, frustrated explanations, and “I don’t know if this is possible, but…” moments.
At Allen App Tools, we’ve now completed 119 contracts on Upwork and 500+ additional projects outside of Upwork with our development team. When I recently stepped back and reviewed those conversations in bulk, something became very clear:
People don’t hire us because they want “Apps Script.”
They hire us because something in their business is quietly breaking down — stealing time, creating risk, or causing constant background stress — and they need it fixed in a way that actually holds up long-term.
This post is about the most consistent pain points that showed up across those conversations, using real client language, and how we’ve helped solve them as a team.
“It technically works… but it’s killing us”
This is the most common starting point by far.
People usually don’t reach out because a system is completely broken. They reach out because it’s wearing them down.
Manual steps. Repetitive work. Processes everyone hates but nobody wants to touch.
In December 2023, Anna, an operations manager at a nonprofit, explained her workflow to me like this:
“At the moment, this process takes an hour plus because each document needs to be opened one by one and sent to the printer.”
She followed that up with:
“Most importantly, we need to be able to print all the documents… in one shot.”
What stood out wasn’t just the time — it was the inevitability. This wasn’t a one-off task. It was something baked into their operations.
Across hundreds of conversations, we see the same idea phrased differently:
- “It works, but it’s way more complicated than it should be.”
- “We do this manually every single time.”
- “I know this shouldn’t be this hard.”
How we approach this
As a team, we don’t start by tearing everything down. Most of the time, the underlying system is fine. It just needs:
- fewer steps
- fewer handoffs
- fewer opportunities for human error
The real goal isn’t just speed — it’s removing the constant mental friction people have learned to tolerate.
“The person who built this is gone, and now we’re stuck”
This shows up more often than people expect.
Sometimes the original developer:
- disappeared
- moved on
- got too busy
- or was an internal employee who left
In July 2025, Robert put it very plainly:
“My current Google App Script guy doesn’t have enough time to help finish my CRM / workflow management app for my new small business.”
In March 2024, Chris shared a similar situation:
“The designer that I have been working with is no longer able to help (he has a full time job)….”
Other clients describe it more cautiously:
- “Nobody wants to touch it.”
- “We’re afraid of breaking it.”
- “It works… but we don’t really understand how.”
This is one of the most stressful positions a business can be in — relying on a system that feels business-critical, but fragile.
How we approach this
Before improving anything, we focus on:
- understanding what already exists
- stabilizing fragile logic
- making the system readable again
Sometimes that means refactoring. Sometimes it means documenting. Sometimes it means putting guardrails around legacy code so it doesn’t collapse the next time Google updates something. Optimization always comes after safety.
“We already paid for this… and it’s still buggy”
Some clients come to us after they’ve already invested time and money — and are understandably frustrated.
In October 2025, Dusty described their situation like this:
“We have continuously run into bugs with the app and the back and forth with this developer has proved unhelpful.”
They added:
“We are looking for someone to take over the development of this app and hopefully make the app simpler, more efficient, and fully functional.”
This is a pattern we see often. The problem usually isn’t that the original idea was wrong — it’s that the system became too complex, too brittle, or too dependent on one person’s mental model.
How we approach this
We don’t just patch the bug. We typically:
- simplify workflows
- reduce moving parts
- add validation and error handling
- make the system understandable to someone other than the original author
That’s how systems stop breaking every few months.
“We live in Google Sheets, but we’re not engineers”
This is one of the strongest and most consistent signals we see.
Clients are often very capable with Sheets. They’ve built impressive systems with formulas, tabs, and workarounds. But eventually they hit a ceiling.
In September 2025, an Upwork client going by Kitchenette explained it this way:
“When I look up things on ChatGPT a lot of it needs Apps Script and that is really challenging for me. I need something fairly cohesive.”
They followed that with:
“I’m not the best writer but happy to jump on a call… to fully explain.”
In January 2024, Jade, an operations lead, said:
“I started building this a year ago and it’s almost the way I want it.”
That word — almost — shows up constantly.
How we approach this
Our job isn’t to turn clients into developers.
It’s to translate how the business actually works into a system that:
- behaves predictably
- is understandable
- doesn’t require heroics to maintain
Most of the value comes from listening, clarifying, and simplifying — not writing clever code.
“This affects payroll, reporting, or money — it needs to be right”
Some automations are conveniences. Others are non-negotiable.
We’ve built systems that directly impact payroll, commissions, billing, and compliance reporting.
In May 2023, Patrick, who runs a service business, described his need casually:
“Nothing too wild — just trying to streamline payroll as my technicians are on commission.”
When money is involved, small errors aren’t small.
How we approach this
For systems like these, we prioritize:
- accuracy over cleverness
- validation and logging
- predictable edge-case handling
- clear failure states
The goal is trust. People should not feel the need to double-check every result.
“We need data from other tools inside Google Sheets”
Another strong pattern is fragmentation.
In October 2025, Mark reached out with this request:
“Automate the process of generating reports from Lawmatics and Clio Manage and transferring them into Google Sheets.”
He also added:
“Additionally, we would like guidance on how to perform this automation so we can add more reports in the future.”
In August 2024, a legal team explained:
“We are seeking a skilled professional to set up automation for emails to auto-populate into a Google Sheet.”
How we approach this
We build clean pipelines:
- API-based when possible
- email parsing when necessary
- normalized reporting tables
- systems designed to be extended later
Clients explicitly want flexibility — and we build for it.
“We need this done securely, without exposing private data”
This comes up more often than people realize.
In December 2023, Anna noted:
“The sheet I am sending you is a test version because the actual document has privacy issues.”
How we approach this
We’re comfortable working with sanitized data, then deploying carefully into real environments with the right permissions and controls. Security and practicality aren’t opposites — they just require intention.
What these situations turn into if they’re not fixed
Left alone, these systems don’t stay neutral. They usually get worse.
More workarounds get added. More people touch them. Fewer people understand them. Eventually, someone becomes afraid to even open the spreadsheet because they’re not sure what might break.
Most clients reach out right before that point.
The part people don’t say out loud
This doesn’t show up in job posts — but it’s everywhere in conversation.
People are tired. They’re responsible for systems they didn’t design. They’re juggling operations, staff, clients, and deadlines. And they’re often afraid of breaking something important.
They’re not just hiring for technical skill. They’re hiring for judgment, calm, and clarity.
That’s something we take seriously at Allen App Tools.
The bigger takeaway
After reviewing hundreds of conversations across five-plus years — including 119 completed Upwork contracts and hundreds of additional projects delivered by our team outside of Upwork — one thing is clear:
People aren’t looking for “automation.”
They’re looking for:
- relief from manual work
- confidence in their systems
- fewer tools to babysit
- ownership of something that finally feels solid
That’s the work we do.
If reading this felt uncomfortably familiar, it’s usually a sign the system has outgrown the way it was originally built.
And that’s often the right moment to fix it.