Frequently asked questions about thinking, epistemology, and cognitive tools. 9738 answers
Complex workflows are built by combining simpler workflows. The output of one becomes the input of another. Composition is the mechanism that turns a library of small, proven workflows into an infrastructure that handles arbitrarily complex work.
Choose one complex process you perform regularly — something that takes more than an hour and involves multiple distinct phases. Decompose it into the smallest independent workflows you can identify. For each sub-workflow, write its input specification and its output specification. Then verify the.
Building monolithic workflows that try to do everything in one unbroken sequence. The monolith feels simpler because it is one thing rather than five, but it is fragile in ways that composed workflows are not. When a monolithic workflow fails at step seven, you must restart from step one — because.
Complex workflows are built by combining simpler workflows. The output of one becomes the input of another. Composition is the mechanism that turns a library of small, proven workflows into an infrastructure that handles arbitrarily complex work.
Periodically review all your workflows to retire outdated ones and improve active ones.
Periodically review all your workflows to retire outdated ones and improve active ones.
Periodically review all your workflows to retire outdated ones and improve active ones.
Periodically review all your workflows to retire outdated ones and improve active ones.
Periodically review all your workflows to retire outdated ones and improve active ones.
Make a list of every workflow you currently run — formal or informal, work or personal, daily or quarterly. For each one, answer three questions: When did I last execute this? Is there a step that no longer makes sense? Is there a recurring task I do that has no workflow at all? Based on your.
Never reviewing at all, letting your workflow portfolio accumulate dead weight — workflows for projects that ended, tools you no longer use, processes that were patched so many times they no longer resemble their original design. Or reviewing too frequently at too granular a level, spending more.
Periodically review all your workflows to retire outdated ones and improve active ones.
Documenting workflows well enough to share them multiplies their value. A workflow that lives only in your head dies with your attention. A workflow shared becomes a reusable asset — for your team, your community, and your future self.
Documenting workflows well enough to share them multiplies their value. A workflow that lives only in your head dies with your attention. A workflow shared becomes a reusable asset — for your team, your community, and your future self.
Documenting workflows well enough to share them multiplies their value. A workflow that lives only in your head dies with your attention. A workflow shared becomes a reusable asset — for your team, your community, and your future self.
Documenting workflows well enough to share them multiplies their value. A workflow that lives only in your head dies with your attention. A workflow shared becomes a reusable asset — for your team, your community, and your future self.
Select one workflow you have refined through repeated practice — something you do well enough that it feels automatic. Write it out as if you were handing it to a competent colleague who has never done this task before. Include every step, every tool, every decision point, and — critically — the.
Two symmetric failures. The first is never sharing — hoarding your workflows as personal competitive advantage, or simply never bothering to document them well enough for anyone else to use. This leaves your team fragile, your knowledge trapped, and your workflows unimproved by outside.
Documenting workflows well enough to share them multiplies their value. A workflow that lives only in your head dies with your attention. A workflow shared becomes a reusable asset — for your team, your community, and your future self.
Treating your recurring activities as designable processes is a fundamental operations skill.
Treating your recurring activities as designable processes is a fundamental operations skill.
Treating your recurring activities as designable processes is a fundamental operations skill.
Treating your recurring activities as designable processes is a fundamental operations skill.
Treating your recurring activities as designable processes is a fundamental operations skill.