Workflow projects present special challenges. They involve many parts of solution architecture (user interfaces, process designs, data) and even more parts of organizations (users, managers, auditors, IT). This session covers five commonly-observed problems the speaker sees with great frequency, and offers advice as to how to address them; the focus is more about designing overall solutions and managing success than it is about coding and tool usage. Mike Fitzmaurice
Text of Five Best Practices for Approaching Workflow Solutions
1. Five Best Practices for Approaching Workflow Solutions MIKE FITZMAURICE, NINTEX SHAREPOINT AND PROJECT CONFERENCE ADRIATICS 2013 ZAGREB, NOVEMBER 27-28 2013
2. sponsors
3. About me Mike Fitzmaurice Vice President of Product Technology, Nintex 11 years at Microsoft SharePoints original technical evangelist
4. Introduction There are more than five These are extra top-of-mind Based on real-world projects Advice applies to any workflow product No demos
5. Dont Always Use SharePoint Workflow
6. Good Uses of SharePoint Workflow Managing how people work Document approval & feedback Collaborative reviews & discussions Gathering signatures
7. Good Uses of SharePoint Workflow Automating some of SharePoints behavior Approve site creation requests Parse incoming email in a list and act on it Publishing items to target Moving project proposals through lifecycles
8. Possible Uses of SharePoint Workflow Manipulating other applications, data sources Employee onboarding Resource scheduling SharePoint lists become work queues
9. Bad Uses of SharePoint Workflow Transaction-oriented processes Blocking or modifying activity Application-to-application service activity Aggressive data transformations Work that doesnt involve SharePoint at all
10. Plan to Fail
11. Consensus May Not Exist Get 3 employees and 1 manager together Talk about a process Little agreement Documentation disagreement, too
12. The Process Will Change
13. Exceptions are Initially Ignored Rarely is this considered in advance Rarely does everyone agree Ignored exceptions lead to bypass
14. Initial Failure as a Winning Strategy People do not want to hear these hard truths. You may have to create an initial workflow just to show how awful a process is. Only then can you change it.
15. Start Simple Step Automate this first Automate these later Process Step Step
16. Focus on Everyday Process
17. Policy is the abdication of thought. -Nathan Myrvold
18. Everyday Processes Steal time Get in the way Annoy users
19. Everyday Processes Have few stakeholders (even if many participants) Are easier to automate Free up time to focus on more critical stuff
20. Process is the preservation and reuse of thought. -Mike Fitzmaurice
21. Everyday Processes Automating them trains users how to think
22. Put Forms in Their Proper Place
23. The Form is the User Interface Not the workflow Not the data
24. If (x and y) then do this do that End if If (user is Bob) then do this and that and the other thing undo that End if If (x and y) then do this do that End if If (x and y) then do this do that End if If (user is Bob) then do this and that and the other thing undo that End if If (x and y) then do this do that End if
26. Think About the Whole App User Interface Process Logic Data Access
27. Make the Workflow Do the Work Documented Auditable Easier to change Easier to manage
28. One Form Per Step Submit Start Task
29. Task Forms Workflow can route new data New data can be written to original form All info can be sent to other places
30. Its Not All About Spreadsheets, Either Same problem, different file type Example: HUGE Excel file with macros Workflow: route, track, remind
31. Self-Reporting Workflows
32. Least-Loved Techniques Browsing individual history entries Building custom reports
33. Youre Already Using SharePoint The list itself can be the report Users can sort, group, filter on metadata Write progress information to item properties Stage Workflows already do this
34. Summary Dont always use SharePoint Workflow Plan to fail Focus on everyday processes Its not about forms Self-reporting workflows
35. questions? MIKEFITZMAURICE.WORDPRESS.CO M @MIKEFITZ
36. thank you. SHAREPOINT AND PROJECT CONFERENCE ADRIATICS 2013 ZAGREB, NOVEMBER 27-28 2013
37. Make Metadata do the Work
38. Avoid Hard-Coding Task assignees Site URLs Document names
39. Reference What You Need List queries Database queries Web service calls Workflow context
