Getting Work Through Its Stages

Model states explicitly

A workflow is a set of states and permitted transitions between them. Modelling that explicitly — rather than with a collection of boolean flags — makes the system comprehensible and the rules enforceable.

A record with six boolean flags has sixty-four possible combinations, most of which are meaningless. A record with a state has the states you defined.

What each transition needs

1. Who is permitted to perform it
2. What conditions must hold first
3. What happens as a result — notifications, records, next steps
4. What is recorded — who, when, why
5. Whether it can be reversed, and by whom

Approval rules are usually more complex than stated

• Thresholds — above a value it needs someone more senior
• Delegation — who covers when the approver is away
• Self-approval — usually prohibited, sometimes permitted
• Sequential versus parallel approval
• What happens on rejection — back to the start, or to a specific stage

Ask about all five explicitly. Businesses describe their approval process as simpler than it is, and the exceptions emerge in week six otherwise.

Make the queue visible

Work waiting on an approver who has not noticed is the most common workflow failure and the easiest to prevent.

Record everything

Every transition, with who, when and any comment. That history answers most later questions and is frequently a regulatory or audit requirement.

It also reveals where the process actually stalls, which is usually somewhere different from where people assume.

Frequently asked questions