THE

WORKFLOW
TRAP

The unsustainable ways we

organize work and how to fix them
CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1
What is a workflow?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

CHAPTER 2
Improving workflows: it’s not about the people, it’s about the tools . . . . . . . . . . . 3

CHAPTER 3
Alright, what’s wrong with my current workflows?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Your workflows lack structure
Your workflows are decentralized
Your workflows are largely manual—and annoyingly repetitive

CHAPTER 4
How do I fix it?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Create structure
Centralize
Automate what you can

CHAPTER 5
Change doesn’t have to be overwhelming: an intro to the Kaizen method . . . . 10

CHAPTER 6
You don’t have to do this alone: use Kintone to create effective change. . . . . . 12

1
CHAPTER 1

So what is a workflow?
Between emails and Slack messages, phone calls and
Zoom meetings, the work day can get pretty chaotic.
We jump from platform to platform, lost in countless
open tabs while still attempting to keep up with the
notifications popping up on our computers and phones.
But that’s just the way it is, right?
When everything feels so choppy, we don’t often think
So what can you do?
In this ebook, we’ll discuss:
of all of our work tasks as a flow. But that’s exactly what
they are: a workflow. Every phone call, email, and instant Why improving
message is a part of this flow. But, while you’re busy workflows isn’t about
juggling platforms, you might be surprised to learn that your people, but
your workflow doesn’t actually have to stress you out. rather your tools
Instead, it’s possible for the tools you use throughout Why your current
the day to transition you seamlessly from task to task— workflows aren’t
and help you communicate effectively with your team. setting you up for
your best work
Not only can an inefficient workflow increase individual
anxiety, reduce motivation, and contribute to burnout, How to lay out a
it can also be detrimental to your company as a whole. plan that will improve
your workflows.
According to market research firm IDC, companies
actually lose 20 to 30 percent of potential revenue Let’s put the “flow”
every year due to workflow inefficiencies. Yet many
companies continue to “make do” with their current
back in workflow.
applications and systems. When you’ve gotten used
to the bottlenecks and go-betweens, it’s easy to
overlook inefficiencies entirely.

2
 THE HENRY FORD FLOW:
RETHINKING THE WAY WE WORK
When we think of productivity, we often think
of how much we can accomplish: how fast we
can write a report, how many phone calls we
can make in an hour, how many meetings we
attend in a day. Of course, most of us could
probably spend a little less time on Instagram
or Facebook. But the truth is that the capacity
for what humans can do is limited, and to-do
lists, delegating, and getting eight hours of
CHAPTER 2
sleep can only elevate productivity so much.

Improving
If we really want to make gains in our
workflows and productivity, we have to

workflows:
focus on the way we work – like Henry Ford
did. Ford knew that to maximize productivity
(and profits), he couldn’t just tell his people to
work harder and faster. While the factory’s first

It’s not about cars were made by employees assembling

customized cars piece-by-piece on the floor,

the people, it’s Ford realized that his employees could do

more faster with interchangeable parts and
about the tools. the assembly line. With Ford’s innovations,
production time of a Model T went from
over twelve hours to ninety-three minutes.
That’s innovation.

In other words, Ford invented a 1926 version

of workflow automation. Instead of focusing
on how his workforce could become more
productive, he focused on improving the
workflow. He knew that in order to be as
effective as possible in the workplace, he had
to re-think the way his employees’ engaged
with work, introducing new tools to give them
the time and space to focus on the parts of
the job that really needed them.

3
CHAPTER 3

Alright, what’s
wrong with my
current workflows?
YOUR WORKFLOWS RELY ON MEMORY.
How much do you really In other words, your memory isn’t always the
trust your memory? When most reliable source. It won’t always be able
we’re juggling spreadsheets to tell you (accurately) what to do next, who
and emails and Slack to send that spreadsheet to, or exactly which
messages – and our mind is occupied by documents your boss wanted you to send
non-work related things, too – it can be difficult to the client. That makes way for mistakes,
to rely on our memories alone to do all our miscommunications, and inefficiencies.
assigned tasks during the work day. We’ve Our imperfect memories can present problems
all gotten off calls with our team and thought, for managers, too. As a boss, it’s your job
Wait, so what do I do next? to keep track of your employees’ memories
And even those of us with self-proclaimed too; you’re in charge of reminding them to do
“good memories” struggle. Experts believe everything they’re supposed to. However, it’s
that you can only hold approximately seven impossible to know where your employees’
items in short-term memory for about 20 to tasks stand (In progress? Complete? Or totally
30 seconds. What’s more, a common cause forgotten?) without asking, and that can
of forgetting is “interference,” which happens become complicated and frustrating.
when memories are competing with one When we don’t have clear, structured
another. Anyone who has ever worked in an processes in our workflows, our memories
office knows that there always are far more than are the only things we have to rely on. And
seven things happening at once, and these when our memories aren’t always reliable, how
things are constantly in competition for space in are we supposed to do our jobs productively,
your brain. efficiently, and as error-free as possible?

4
 YOUR WORKFLOWS
ARE SCATTERED ACROSS
TOO MANY TOOLS
Okay, say you do remember to tackle everything
on your to-do list. How long do you really spend
completely focused on a task?

Perhaps you’re writing a report that requires

company data, but each department – sales,
HR, and marketing – has its own data silo. You’re
waiting on your coworker in marketing to send
you their team’s spreadsheets, and the sales
numbers are in a different database. Once you
receive all the numbers, you must copy and paste Switching tasks can
them into a slide deck to present to your boss. reduce productivity by
The most frustrating part? The report itself
doesn’t take you that long to put together. What
40% 1

did take long, though, was all the hunting down

and copy and pasting of numbers you had to
do to complete it; a study by Panopto found that it can be hard to refocus. In the gaps between
employees spend an average of 5.3 hours a different tasks, it’s easy to pop onto social
week looking for the information they need to media or grab a snack or text a friend. In fact,
do their job. Not only that, but you’re constantly the distractions that come with task switching
distracted by the emails or Slack messages can cost you up to 40%% of your productivity.
needed to coordinate the sending of data,
And in addition to opening the door for
and you’re constantly switching back and forth
distractions, a decentralized workflow affects
between different tabs, databases, emails, and
the bottom line. Panopto’s study found that a
apps. And when companies have an average
business of under 1,000 employees will lose
of 129 software tools each, there’s bound to
about $2.4 million in productivity due to the
be lots of switching. This is a disjointed workflow
presence of department-specific data silos
at its finest.
that leads to insufficient knowledge sharing.
This disjointedness makes it easy for distractions That means that waiting on those emails from
to slip into the cracks. And a study by sales and marketing to put together your report
CareerBuilder found that even small distractions isn’t just a time-sucking nuisance, but it’s also
can make it difficult to complete a task; once an losing your company quite a lot of money.
employee shifts their attention to something new,
1
https://liverichlivewell.com/frequent-task-switching-ruining-productivity

5
YOUR WORKFLOWS ARE LARGELY MANUAL—
AND ANNOYINGLY REPETITIVE
Copying and pasting. Forwarding and resharing. Inputting and
converting data. These are all small tasks that don’t seem to
take up much time in your work day. But when stacked on top
of each other over and over again, they take up valuable time
without actually getting you closer to your goals. Little frictions
can start big fires.

Think, too, about all of the different communication channels

you use every day. In one group conversation on Microsoft
Teams, your coworker mentioned an important statistic that
might be useful to the sales team. In a separate email, they
mentioned another. Now, you have to forward this information
– the stat from Microsoft teams and the one from email –
to the sales team so that they can see it all. These repetitive
tasks leave employees disengaged and bothered, and 90%
of employees are burdened with boring and repetitive tasks
every day. Not only does a disinterested workforce breed
subpar results, but these tasks take time and energy away from
more interesting work that employees were actually hired to do.

What’s more, monotonous repetitive tasks leave plenty of

room for error; a study published in the Journal of End User’s
Computing found that 88% of spreadsheets contain errors Monotonous,
that affect a business’ bottom line. What if you copy and paste
the wrong stat, or remember incorrectly what your coworker repetitive tasks
mentioned in the group chat? This could be a mistake that
affects your company’s productivity and profits.
leave plenty of
Yes, everything is now digitized, and yes, it’s made things like
room for error.
relaying stats and communicating with colleagues easier. But
digital conversion isn’t equivalent to digital transformation. In
other words, while we’ve digitized tons of workplace processes
with a variety of tools, that doesn’t mean we’ve made them
as efficient and error-proof as they should be. To achieve peak
productivity, we need to shift our perspective, looking at our
workflows holistically to discern how we can interact with our
countless digitized processes and make them flow together.

6
CHAPTER 4

How do I fix it?

Good news! There’s a STRUCTURE: HAVE CLEARLY-DEFINED PROCESSES
solution that will minimize
As previously mentioned, human memories are nowhere near
distractions, friction, and
foolproof. We’ve all forgotten to complete an overdue task or send an
more to ensure your important email. Sometimes we even forget to eat breakfast. That’s
team is operating within a why we need clearly defined processes in our workflow. But how do
design that sets them up you establish these ultra-clear processes? Here’s a brief guide:
for success.
So what does that Map out your current workflows. Think about a “day in the life”
at work. Consider all things big and small, from the projects you
look like with Kintone?
send to clients and the emails you send to coworkers.
Let’s dig in. Everything is part of your daily flow.

Eliminate! Identify steps that cause friction, and eliminate

them. For example, calculate the number of times you need to
transform data into information your boss or your coworkers can
use. Calculate the amount of times you copy and paste when
creating a spreadsheet. Then, ask yourself what automated
tools you can use to make the system simpler, more efficient,
and less time consuming.

Choose tools that allow visibility. How does each step fit
into your big picture flow? Choose tools that make it easy for
everyone – from the employee to the manager to the colleague
A tool built for collaboration
– to clearly see how each task fits together and helps the
Kintone’s workflow company tick. Task and workflow management tools can help
management platform lets with this, giving you a collaborative space to map out steps,
you lay out a process from assign tasks, and automate the tedious stuff.
start to finish and track every
little step. Determine the information-sharing flow. Establish a system
for sharing information that’s uncomplicated and quick, so that
Assign tasks to specific everyone has access to the conversations and data that are
people or groups, easily important to their role.
check the status of tasks,
and see what the next step Get everyone on board! Your new system won’t work unless
in the process is for ultra- managers and employees alike buy in. Give your team enough
clear accountability and information that they can adopt new tools with excitement and
efficiency. Learn more. understanding.

7
CENTRALIZE: CREATE VISIBILITY AND
ACCESSIBILITY
Centralizing is critical for a better workflow experience; you want
information to be accessible to all who need it from start to finish.
But how can you make this happen?

Set up a home base platform for your team where everything

is visible by default. No extra passwords, email forwards, or
unnecessary chats required. It will:
A home base for all your
Organize your data in one accessible place. Need to see workflows
those sales numbers or social media metrics? While still
secure and protected, this data will be accessible by default, Kintone can function as
eliminating the painstaking process of trying to connect with the main workspace for
busy colleagues. Instead of wasting time securing the data, all the various workflows
you’ll have more time to spend actually using it. your team handles.
Whether it’s expense
Combine your communication and data for seamless report approvals, content
sharing. Instead of transferring data into an Excel requests, or sales activity
spreadsheet and then forwarding it via email (which, let’s be logs, your team can see it
honest, can take all day), choose a platform that lets you share all in one organized place
usable data in one place. Quick, easy, and accessible to all. and easily share and refer
back to files, information,
Eliminate the need for single-purpose tools that and conversations.
can’t finish the job. Often, single purpose tools are great at
Learn more.
what they do but not-so-great for your workflow; it’s difficult
(and stressful) to be chatting on Slack while digging through
your email inbox for an Excel spreadsheet while updating
the status of your team’s project management tool. Instead,
choose an all-purpose tool that lets you consolidate your
tasks onto one single platform.

8
 AUTOMATE: ELIMINATE REDUNDANCIES
Why do a mundane, administrative task over and over again that a
digital tool could do just as well—and faster! With a more organized and
automated workflow, you can eliminate tiny frictions and save
time for the tasks that are truly productive (and even enjoyable);
33% of organizations that utilize automation in their processes are
more likely to be “human friendly workspaces, in which employees
are 31% more productive. With automation, you’ll be able to:

Automate task hand-offs and follow-ups by setting up notifications.

Workflows that handle This eliminates the need for unnecessary emails, instant messages,
the busy work or meetings that get in the way of the task at hand.
With Kintone’s automated
Make data accessible to all. How many websites do you use
workflows, your team to hold your data? And how many times are employees instant
can streamline task messaging or emailing their coworkers to share passwords and
handoffs and approval codes? The answer to both is probably a lot – and it probably gets
processes. See at a pretty exhausting and repetitive. When you centralize your workflow,
glance who’s assigned those redundancies disappear – and your time reappears.
to each task and set
up custom notifications Make problem solving accessible to all, too. Again, problems in
and reminders so that the workplace are common and expected. More often than not,
everyone knows when they’re often resolved with team collaboration and discussion
it’s their turn to do (or, in more extreme cases, maybe even speaking with an expert).
something. No follow- But even if they’re resolved once, it doesn’t mean that the same
up emails necessary! problem – or one similar – won’t come up again in the future.
Learn more.
Therefore, it’s important that these problem solving collaborations
and discussions don’t happen in private emails or instant
messages. You want your employees to have tools that allow
answers they can easily access, so that if another problem does
arise in the future, they’ll know just where to go to solve it – setting
your team up for more efficiency and less problem solving anxiety.

9
CHAPTER 5

Change doesn’t have to

be overwhelming.
AN INTRO TO THE KAIZEN METHOD
Perhaps you’re comfortable with how things be stuck with an inefficient, time-consuming
are done at your office, and you aren’t sure process just because it’s the way they’ve
you’re ready for a drastic change all at once. always done things, they’ll be more open to—
That’s okay! Actually, that’s good. It all starts and even seek out—more opportunities to
with a little shift in perspective. grow and improve workflow efficiency.

Enter: The Kaizen methodology. Kaizen Therefore, it’s important to choose a workflow
methodology promotes an approach that management software that can adapt as your
pushes forward “the continuous improvement company’s needs change.
in an organization, based on constant small
positive changes that can result in major and
more significant growth.” Put simply, your
organization doesn’t have to leap right away.
Small steps in a more efficient direction are
great too, and can catalyze big change. It’s
about shifting perspective, building sustainable
habits that will change the way you work. You need tools that
You don’t have to introduce new management take small steps
tools all at once. In fact, your employees will
probably feel overwhelmed if you do. But once
alongside you—and
your team recognizes that they don’t have to generate big results.

10
 Small Team, Big Impact:
The Benefits of a Clear Workflow
Jessica Lee is a staff attorney at the Center for WorkLife Law,
a small legal clinic that operates out of University of California
Hastings’ College of Law. Her team of ten focuses on ensuring
workers aren’t discriminated against as a result of their
caregiving responsibilities and family needs.

One of the many initiatives that Jessica and her team run
includes a national hotline for people experiencing workplace
discrimination.

Jessica’s challenge was to find a way to manage this hotline:

“The way it works is this: Somebody calls us or emails us

because they need help. A member of our intake team gets
in touch with them to get a general understanding of what
they’re experiencing. The person doing the intake consults
with an attorney. Sometimes, the attorney is able to share
resources or advice directly. Other times it’s more complicated,
and there are follow-up tasks, like writing a letter or making a
phone call on that person’s behalf.”

“ The goal was to find a platform that Jessica and her team can
now quickly see which
could help us manage this process in an cases are still being
open and transparent way that wasn’t worked on and who’s
currently assigned to them.
going to break the bank.” The intake team can also
follow along the clearly
The team needed a tool that would let them lay out the steps laid out steps and view the
different questions they
of the entire hotline workflow in one place and easily see the
should ask depending on
status of all the open cases. Jessica used Kintone to build out the type of case.
the hotline workflow and track each step of the process.
Read more
“Kintone keeps us organized and accountable. All the customer stories >>
information is there so we never have to worry about dropping
balls because someone is out. We can track our progress so
easily, which allows us to have trust in each other and that
things are getting done. Kintone’s given us the tools we need
to help hundreds of people.”

Read the full story >>

11
CHAPTER 6

You don’t
have to do
this alone.
USE KINTONE TO CREATE
EFFECTIVE CHANGE.
Imagine a world where you weren’t spending
two or three hours a day answering emails or
sending Slack messages. A world where you
didn’t have to wait for that document to be
forwarded from sales to marketing to HR to
start digging into that report, or where data is
accessible company-wide quickly, easily, and and communicate with colleagues like never
efficiently. A world where your employees are before. And the best part? There is absolutely
logging off their computers at the end of the no coding involved.
day thinking, wow, I got a lot done today.
No, we might never delete our social media
While it may seem far away now, that world is accounts or make that productivity spreadsheet.
easily within reach. Seriously! The solution is a But it’s finally time to take the heavy weight of
clearly defined process, a place to track it all, productivity off humans and put it on Kintone.
and automated features that allow you to focus
your energy on the human parts of your job.

With Kintone, you’ll have an all-in-one workflow

With Kintone, you
management and automation tool that will take
your efficiency to a whole new level. You can can get work flowing.
build customized workflow apps for every task Start your
or process, collaborate on projects, access
and pull reports (no spreadsheets required!),
free trial today.

12
kintone.com