I’ve encountered another example of a situation where workflow should have come before technology, and once again, the client is the one who suffers. In this particular example, it is not a very black-and-white situation. The parable goes something like this. How are you supposed to know what you don’t know beforehand? Meaning if you update technology that exposes problems in your workflow, but you would not otherwise have known there were problems in the workflow until you updated the technology, how are you supposed to know that you had problems in your workflow?

This is the twistiest of problems any organization, or for that matter, any person could try to grapple with. If you had only known what you know now, you would’ve made different choices before, which is usually what people think when confronted with this situation. The reality is you made a decision to move forward with a new piece of technology, and all you can do is review your workflow to bring you up to speed for the best possible experience.

Now, there are examples of when you can fully explore what your workflow should be if you were implementing a new piece of technology. I’m not suggesting that you can never be prepared for any possible changes, so please ensure you go through the potential workflow changes and technology updates. A good example of this would be if you were to update your technology to include automation, reducing your need to rely upon a human being to push a button or update a particular field. With that stuff, you can 100% predict what the workflow will be upon implementing the technology.

The situation described at the beginning creates a conundrum, which typically occurs when an entire platform is changed due to uncertainty around what the new workflow will specifically be. Unfortunately, for this particular recent example, there was an uncontrollable time constraint that forced the situation. You should still make time to review and document your workflow. By not having your workflow documented, you risk introducing technology that could amplify your problems instead of solving them.

The rule of thumb is always to know your workflow inside and out before you decide to change any technology. And if your situation does not afford you that, find the people in your company who can tell you how things are done inside and out, and get them in the same room to deal with the workflow contingency issues that have occurred from your new technology. While doing all of that, document your workflow so you can be ready for the next technology change.

#workflowology