“You don’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.”

One of the biggest mistakes made when developing a new workflow process is to start by designing the new workflow process. I know that this seems like a counter intuitive statement, but bear with me.

When you want to go fishing, do you just get in your car, drive to the lake and take the boat out? Of course not! You take inventory of what you have. You check that you have the necessary equipment before you even get into the car. You check that you packed the rod and reel, the lures, the bait, the “beverages,”gas for the car and boat, and you discover if you are missing any essential supplies.

Designing a workflow process is very similar. You need to review the current process before designing your new process.

Many of you probably have a good idea of how the current process works, but this is where you get into trouble. It is very easy to generalize very intricate details into overly simplified steps. These generalizations lead to endless “tweaking” of the final workflow process, often after implementation. These small changes can easily take twice as long or more than the initial design and implementation!

By taking the time to relearn your current process, you can gain deep insights into everybody’s role and the various deviations in the current process that need to be accounted for in the final workflow process.

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About Josh
A proud graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, Josh is the Editor-in-Chief of this blog and regularly contributes Friday Fun Links, RJS news and interesting technology notes. Prior to joining RJS, Josh worked at the Ronald McDonald House in Minneapolis. Outside of work, Josh enjoys the outdoors, fantasy football, classic movies, baseball and wine.