What is your idea of a good workflow?
Is it for a smoother flow of work or a sometimes over engineered take on interactions?
The whole concept of workflows sometimes beats the very purpose, like a misnomer of sorts.
As part of a new system or application design, when we sketch a process flow as any logical sequence of steps, that’s when this question is of paramount importance.
Are we contributing to making work flow or are creating bottlenecks / hops inadvertently? (A)
The true essence of fluid design is in the conscious ability to make work, flow easier.
This is where the concepts of high touch, low touch, and no touch can be of great benefit (B).
Think of these (A & B) as guardrails while you apply design principles or even while practicing design thinking.
It can be as simple as categorizing all interactions into these categories and validating our assumptions against them.
You may start to feel more empathetic even.😄
So the next time you are planning to give shape to something, what would you choose?
Flow over work OR work over flow?
In the context of building a superior system or experience by applying design thinking, many a time, we are biased by what we have done earlier / the norm. How do we uncover this bias?
That is, however, another topic/ article for me to explore later..
Happy weekend.
Random Musings 
I believe a good workflow strikes a balance between efficiency and simplicity. It should streamline tasks, minimize friction, and enhance productivity. Over-engineering can indeed lead to unnecessary complexity, defeating the purpose. A well-designed workflow considers user needs, eliminates unnecessary steps, and provides flexibility for adaptation. It’s essential to question each step: ‘Is this necessary?’ ‘Can it be simplified?’ ‘Does it improve the overall process?’
I believe a good workflow strikes a balance between efficiency and simplicity. It should streamline tasks, minimize friction, and enhance productivity. Over-engineering can indeed lead to unnecessary complexity, defeating the purpose. A well-designed workflow considers user needs, eliminates unnecessary steps, and provides flexibility for adaptation. It’s essential to question each step: ‘Is this necessary?’ ‘Can it be simplified?’ ‘Does it improve the overall process?’
Perhaps a good workflow is one that’s intuitive, adaptable, and refined through continuous feedback and iteration.
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Nicely stated Mujtaba…over engineering is something that is hard to detect but easy to engineer. 😊 Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
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