What Even Is a Workflow?

Even babies have them, they're just chaotic.

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” — Peter Drucker

A workflow is just a sequence you repeat to get something done. It doesn’t have to be pretty. It doesn’t have to be written down. It might even look a little like crying and flailing.

Which brings us to babies.

Even babies have workflows. They want something → they get loud → someone figures it out. The system repeats. It mostly works. It’s just chaotic.

The rest of us aren’t that different. Most of the time, we move through our days using unspoken routines that live in our heads, or get cobbled together from memory, urgency, and habit.

We don’t think of these as “workflows”, but they are.

So what makes a workflow good?

A good workflow takes that chaotic loop that eats your time, stresses you out, or lets you forget important items, and gives it a little more structure.

A bad workflow can feel suffocating or draining.

A good workflow:

• Reduces the number of decisions you have to make

• Prevents forgotten steps or duplicated effort

• Matches your tools and your attention span

• Makes room for you to work tired, distracted, or interrupted and still finish strong

But wait, isn’t that just an SOP?

Not quite. An SOP tells you exactly how something should be done, usually for the sake of consistency across a team. A workflow helps you do it more easily, more reliably, even if it changes over time.

If SOPs are rulebooks, workflows are rhythms. You already have some. The real question is: are they working for you, or against you?

Let’s make your next one intentional.

This week we’ll walk through:

• How to design a workflow you’ll use (Wednesday)

• A simple workflow almost anyone can try (Friday)

For today, here’s your homework:

Think of a task that drains you more than it should. What steps do you usually take to get through it?

That’s a workflow. Let’s make it a better one.