The power of workflows
Workflows are a series of interconnected steps that produce a result.
Consider an email. Your to-do list states Reply to Sam — a seemingly simple task that you can knock out in a few minutes. But underneath that innocuous item, there’s an imperceptible mass of tasks — first, you need an answer from Casey who, to be able to reply to your email, needs input from the accounting department. And once Casey gets back to you, you need to input his numbers into a spreadsheet and also collaborate with another colleague. Before finally replying to Sam, you remember you still need the legal department’s approval. Suddenly, a couple hours of your day are gone and you’re nowhere near the end of your to-do list.
As your blood pressure rises higher and higher, you probably have an epiphany: these aren’t just emails, they’re workflows. If you want to get your work under control, you have to understand and manage your workflows.
Some workflows are linear, meaning they follow the same steps each time (like brushing your teeth), and others are not. For example, loops: when the last step triggers the workflow to start all over again, like playing a song on repeat or a data collection workflow that re-initiates each time the process is completed. Regardless of whether it’s linear or non-linear, every workflow has four predictable elements: trigger, steps, results, outcome.
Understanding any workflow requires mapping out the full process ahead of time. In practice, this does two things. First, it removes your emotions from the equation. You’re not wrestling with whether or not you want to hit the gym in the morning — you simply map out your workflow (book trainer sessions, set out your clothes the night before, prepare the coffee machine, etc.) and press ‘go.’ And secondly, workflows help combat our natural tendency to underestimate how long a task will require. Seeing all of the steps, you can plan accordingly. You create for yourself (and your colleagues) reasonable expectations.
And here’s what else workflows can do:
1. Highlight time-wasting flaws
Visualizing all of the steps in a particular workflow can help you to identify flaws in the process and save time. This applies to all types of workflows, both quotidian routines and isolated projects.
To demonstrate a marketing example: imagine you’ve rolled out a beautifully designed, engaging newsletter. It’s firing on all cylinders but you’re getting zero new subscribers. Mapping out the workflow, you realize you’ve skipped the “confirm subscription” step. Tweak the workflow, problem solved.
2. Identify automation opportunities
Another critical advantage of workflows is that they enable you to identify which steps can be automated, meaning less busywork and more time for stuff that matters, to you and your organization. Let’s say one of the steps of your workflow is a recurring payment. Automating this step by setting up automatic bank transfers will eliminate any effort on your part, not to mention, obviate the need to remember to manually make the payment.
Not everything can be automated. Highly creative work, for example, is something that only you can do and requires your full attention. But for tasks that are repetitive, recurring, and require little-to-no input, automation is like an infallible personal assistant. To boot, you can dedicate more brain power to that highly creative work.
With workflows and automation, your present self can realistically envision how much time your future self needs — take a good look at the entire iceberg — and calculate your schedule accordingly.
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