Workflow Analysis and Design

Upgrade Your Work Life

Quickly revolutionize your team and company workflow and key business processes through the expertise of Priacta coaches and business analysts. Rely on decades of software, collaboration, and business process experience to identify core issues, find ideal tools and processes, and execute a successful adoption plan.

All Angles Considered

Group workflow, business processes, and communication are NOT the same as personal productivity. Total, Relaxed Organization (or David Allen's GTD or Franklin Covey) is a great start, to be sure. But although team workflow relies on similar principles, it adds many complexities, including:

• Business objectives and strategy
  (How can you structure group workflow to support your real business objectives? How to naturally focus teams on what matters most instead of making people busier?)
• Streamlining team communication to reduce errors and interruptions
  (How do you reduce reliance on ad hoc email and chat messages while enjoying the benefits?)
• Shared project visibility
  (How does everyone see the big picture without needing to meet or ask all the time?)
• Current business process support, rapid execution, ease of improvement, and clarity
  (What steps you really go through in adding and supporting a client? An order? A customer service request? What issues to you encounter?)
• Document and knowledge sharing, group editing, delivery, cancellation, retention policies, and compliance
  (How do people receive, find, and contribute to documents in central document repository that complies with your needs and laws?)
• Ensuring good delegation and team task visibility without micromanagement
  (How do you see when something is accepted and done without stifling personal initiative?)
• Easy integration with personal workflows (Total, Relaxed Organization, GTD, or other systems)
  (How does the new team workflow connect with personal task lists without creating a lot of extra work?)
• Integration with current tools (CRM, Salesforce, SharePoint, other cloud, industry-standard, or proprietary workflow tools)
  (What do you do when you already rely—or may need to rely—on other specialized tools?)
• Smoothly transitioning from old processes to new ones
  (Your current processes are working, so how do you move to something new without upsetting your cash and production flows?)
• Resistance to change and other human factors and adoption challenges
  (People resist change for good reasons. How do you ensure smooth adoption for everyone?)
• Other technical considerations (cloud, interchange of data, APIs, security, backups)
  (How do you make it all work together, technically, while staying secure ans easy to support?)
• Supporting and encouraging effective teamwork
  (A great workflow will increase engagement without creating more work for anyone. How do you get that?)
• Expediting team meetings (shared-responsibility, highly-focused, great team engagement with zero-preparation!)
  (How can improved workflow help transform team meetings into exciting, focused, and productive discussions?)

How It's Done

• We *confidentially* interview (phone, Internet) all key stakeholders, asking key questions and listening intently. Nothing said is ever shared directly. This allows us to tap into the expertise of management and front-line observers to gain the most relevant information possible. (People love this step. For the first time, sometimes, they feel like they can influence and are being heard on things they see as key issues.) This is similar to the Delphi Method, but without the typical drawbacks.
• We gather all your concerns, constraints, and insights. These become "requirements" for the final solution. (We understand that you won't think of them all at once, so we keep listening and adding through the whole process.)
• We learn or discover your real business objectives. Group workflow should quietly reinforce and support your business strategy at all levels. By focusing everyone on what matters most in a natural, relaxed way, progress becomes inevitable.
• We assess your current realities. What apps and tools do you use now? Are they required? What are their capabilities or limitations? What platforms do different team members rely on? Do people work on the road or just in their offices? This helps us design the best plan requiring the least change for everyone.
• We find patterns, connections, key indicators, and principles at play in your company's workflow from the information gleaned in the interviews.
• We apply concepts from Theory of Constraints, Kaizen, Continual Improvement Process (CIP) and other proven methods to find the smallest changes with the biggest benefit. First you focus on those, then you work on the next smallest change with the largest benefit, and so on.
• We tap into our deep expertise with state-of-the art team collaboration and workflow tools to identify, research, and suggest new tools or add-ons that meet your real needs. Examples: zero-programming shared cloud databases, online CRM systems, workflow automation and business process automation solutions, team collaboration systems, ERP, project management, and more.
• We consider factors such as ease of adoption, scalability, expandability, customizability, 3rd-party community support, APIs, integration with other systems, data portability, data security, reliability, and much more.
• We present and discuss our recommendations and reasons with the key leaders:
  • Recommended tool changes and why.
  • Recommended initial process changes and why.
• We create an agile implementation road map (specific implementation steps, a general 30,000-foot view, designed to be implemented in an agile, iterative approach)
• We help you begin executing that roadmap.

Deliverables

You get:

• A dedicated business process analyst/coach.
• A preliminary plan (based on all information from all interviews—confidential details not disclosed).
• An analyst-led group assessment of the preliminary plan with key leaders/adopters.
• A written final plan with recommended tools and high-level roadmap.
  • This is a simple document or PowerPoint laying out recommendations and plan (for ease of reading adoption).
• Quotes for optional, ongoing services to implement the complete transformation for you. (Coaching, training, consulting, or interim management services to lead the change and train permanent staff. Or do it yourself, you decide.)

Contact Us

If you're unsure, contact a Priacta coach now to discuss. Together, you can quickly determine if and how this can help your organization.