tech

Workflow

The sequence of steps that takes a task from start to completion.

Definition

A workflow is the defined sequence of steps a task moves through: who does what, in what order, with what handoffs. Common workflows in service businesses: lead-to-customer, customer onboarding, project delivery, invoicing-to-collection. Documented workflows reveal inefficiency, enable handoffs, and allow automation. Undocumented workflows live in the founder's head and break the moment they're delegated.

In your business

  • Document the 5 most-repeated workflows first
  • Look for handoffs - they're where work falls through cracks
  • Automate the repeatable parts once the workflow is clean - automating a broken workflow just amplifies the breakage

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