In this article, we will see how you can leverage your workflow with an effective workflow design and streamline the processes of individual departments. 

We’ll look at workflow functions, their content, how to create them, and some extra tips on making a successful workflow design.

A Workflow Design is a process of outlining all the tasks in a visual format like a flowchart. Team members will get an overview of each process and be on the line. It’s the backbone of every task, saves employees a lot of time, and avoids hurdles.

Creating the best workflow design will happen after testing multiple design cycles and modifications, as you have to lay down the process flow diagram in detail.

It helps visualize each step and organize the job for your team. Many benefits come with a good workflow design: 

• Transparency: In a fine workflow design, leaders, team members, and stakeholders can identify the project's status throughout development, even more when pulling digital tools for creating and communicating your workflow.
• Increase Efficiency: A clear workflow design will increase its accuracy by providing documented processes for each stage of development. 
• Facilitates Collaboration: It will help departments work together by improving communication. A strong workflow design will highlight new areas where teams and individuals can work together.
• Provides Clarity on Scheduling: An effective workflow design can help your team to understand what is expected from them at each stage of the project development, so you can keep everything on schedule and organized.
• Process Automation: Integrating new technologies into your workflow diagram will improve the efficiency of your tasks. Always do it if you find it possible.

To create an efficient workflow design, you will need a workflow designer tool to make it all possible. 

There are many workflow design software in the market, but you’ll have to pay attention to their features and what they offer. Next, we’ll look at some key elements you need to consider.

Task Assignment

Assigning tasks is the most important feature. It improves accountability when the workflow is executed. 

This contributes to greater clarity but should be built into your workflow design tool to avoid organizational issues.

Collaboration

The workflow design tool you choose should facilitate any input from everyone involved in the tasks. 

It helps to create a comprehensive picture rather than a limited one, improving the process flow and efficiency.

An Easy-to-Understand Interface

Your choice of workflow design should have a no-code, intuitive interface and be perfect for business users. The better if it's built with drag-and-drop or any other interactive capabilities to simplify the whole process.

Sub-Workflows

Some tasks within the workflow design can be grouped into a sub-workflow for better organization. It enables simplification, flexibility, and better testing for potential bottlenecks and errors.

Notifications, Timeouts, and Waits

Reminders are essential for a workflow to minimize delays. Their tools should have features that let you add reminders and customize the types of automatic notifications received. 

It also needs to have options for pausing, including timeouts and waiting for conditions to accommodate these situations. Not every task can be done in one go.

A strong workflow should give you a visual overview of all tasks involved. But there are other elements that a workflow design should consider:

• Input: It includes all labor, equipment, and data required to effectively complete each step of your workflow.
• Transformation: These are all the changes made during the workflow process.
• Output: These are the results.

When considered properly, these three should result in a scheduled list of tasks, approvals, and reviews, reduced time spent on repetitive tasks, fewer human errors, and more consistent, repeatable sequential tasks.

Now that we have all the content covered, it’s time to plan our new workflow.

Pick a Diagram

Search for the best workflow diagram type that will fit your work best for you and the team. Familiarize yourself with the perfect strategy in your field. 

Some workflow diagrams may use symbols or a combination of shapes, and others may use arrows with some mix of typed text. Check which can fit better.

Use Excel as an Alternative

If you are stuck on how to start, you can rely on using simple spreadsheet software. 

You can try to draw your initial flowchart for your workflow design in Excel, which if you need an Office key, you can get the latest version at a lower price. 

There are plenty of templates that you may find on the internet, even from the official Microsoft site, which you just need to download and edit their values with your needs.

Consider Which Tasks to Include

Start by identifying the different activities in your process using a basic flowchart. Try brainstorming the processes with team members to ensure you include each important aspect of the project. 

Create clear start, middle, and end decision points to have a picture of the entire operational flow. 

Then, document every task and ensure that each step is properly integrated into the workflow design process. Remember to indicate the relationship between the steps involved.

Look for Potential Sub-Workflows

Identify any sub-workflow that makes up your larger workflow. Try to split your larger, linear flows into smaller, more digestible workflows to make complex processes easier to understand and complete. 

If possible, you can reuse the processes you already tested and implement them. 

Automate Whenever Possible

Once the main components of your workflow are done, try incorporating as much automation as possible. This will simplify your workflow and eliminate any repetitive or manual tasks. 

You can also create logical loops to avoid choking processes and falling behind schedule. There are two types of workflow loops: The “While…Do” (while one task occurs, you complete another in the meantime), and the “Repeat…Until” (continue doing a certain task until another is approved).

Test and Review

Check that everything is on track before getting it online. Consider using measurable outcomes such as KPIs, and if items are missing from your workflow or could be connected more efficiently, make adjustments and modify them when necessary. 

Don’t forget to communicate those changes with your team.

Leveraging workflows across your business processes can help improve productivity and offer a great return on investment. 

We’ll identify each of their blocks so you can better understand how to design your workflow. They are composed of the following: 

• Sheet: This is where all data is stored.
• Forms: They can be used to collect data from anyone. Forms can be sent via email, hyperlinks, or even published on a website.
• Sheet Summary: It's the rollup of your key data from the original sheet. This can be used to display metrics and points on a dashboard.
• Content Collaboration: Manage and review approval processes for all assets. 
• Reports: Pull data from multiple sources to create reports that answer key business questions.
• Automation: Use it to simplify your workflow and streamline any manual task.
• Dashboards: Build it to surface key metrics across a program without exposing underlying data. Use it as a central source of truth that team members and stakeholders can reference.

To make a strong workflow design, we’ll recommend some of the best practices you can introduce on the process and additional tips to avoid any roadblocks that may appear.

Know Which Type of Workflow Design Works Best for Each Process

The most effective workflow design is usually one that goes along with your team's preferences. Consider factors such as the frequency of meetings and modes of communication when designing a workflow.

Take into consideration that there are two types of workflows like “Linear” (for short processes that aren’t error-prone) and “State Machine” (best for process tracking). Identify which type of workflow fits better and go from there.

But either way, think that these are non-linear processes. Workflows are designed to enable you to return to previous steps seamlessly without causing any sort of lag time.

Don’t Rely Fully on the Feedback You Get

Dig deeper to identify any possible “red flag” with your workflow. Everyone needs an opportunity to be consulted and provide feedback. But don’t sit solely on that. 

The team must be given time to consider the proposed changes and arrive at their own conclusions, followed by time to review, question, and challenge the new ideas for the workflow.

Be sure to get their approval and not just from the stakeholders with little responsibility for productive tasks. Executive buy-in doesn’t equate to team buy-in.

Split Workflows into Sub-Workflows Whenever Is Possible

The use of smaller workflows will result in greater efficiency, quicker issue resolution, easier testing, and, overall, better workflow implementation and performance.

Categorize Your Workflows Steps on Priority and Specify Your Modules

You can color code or use names for different task priority levels so that team members can identify the most critical needs. 

It should also support the addition or removal of new workflow processes. It has to maintain a clear design so you can easily identify and fix any problem that might pop up.

Make it Easy and Simple to Understand

Create simple workflows for generic processes and use them as templates for larger, more complex ones. 

As you design workflows, remember that their purpose is to create a visual representation and depict tasks as they progress from one step to another. It should be as straightforward as possible. Many roadblocks and issues will pop up along the way before you reach the most effective solution.

Never deploy workflows until you fully understand each step. Make sure you know the process you are redesigning before looking for ways to automate it or put it into the workflow.

Implementing a strong workflow in a meaningful way will enhance your project productivity. It could provide better communication between teams around the company and work around organizational culture. It’s what your business needs to grow. 

Beware of not making many mistakes. A bad workflow design could lead to even more problems rather than not having it at all. But with practice, you will learn to take the required steps and find solutions to make the best for your project. Everyone will encounter some bottlenecks and roadblocks along the way.