I audit workflows — lots and lots of workflows — and I've seen many variations. Short ones, long ones; sequential ones and branched ones; ones that launch based on triggers and ones that are manually kicked off. They are all as unique as the firms that build them — as they should be.
But one thing I don't see often enough is an exit strategy. Just like every voyage may not go as planned, sometimes a workflow doesn't either. You need to be prepared for that scenario — or you can face serious consequences. It can mean the difference between a workflow that feels reliable and one that quietly slips away — like an employee who heads out to Staples for copy paper and just never comes back.
Building in a Plan B first requires the acknowledgment that things sometimes go wrong. No matter how well you design your systems, no matter how much testing you perform — you simply cannot predict every possible scenario that may occur when you go live.
"If anything's gonna happen, it's gonna happen out there." — Captain Ron
Let's face it — users take unexpected actions; hyperlinks break; outside applications have outages and planned downtimes. And if you didn't build life rafts into your workflows, these issues can not only take your ship down — they can leave your crew, and your clients, stranded.
So here are a few tips if you're building your own workflows.
Supply a Life Raft
In a perfect world, each workflow is successfully launched, every step is faithfully executed, and there's always a picture-perfect anchor drop when the workflow ends. In reality though... sometimes you just need to bail. A client offboards, the advisor changes, the account you were opening no longer needs to be opened.
Don't force the user to simply cancel or delete the workflow. Anticipate that this could happen and build an exit plan right into the workflow itself.
Provision a Ditch Bag
Good sailors keep a ditch bag within easy reach of the cockpit at all times, in case they have to abandon ship. They hope to never need it, but it's there just in case. Make sure your users have a ditch bag in the workflow — a place that provides instructions to the user if they have cut the lines.
Do they need to notify a co-worker? Launch a different workflow? Change a tag so this workflow doesn't re-trigger on its own? Make the instructions explicit and link in any templates, tools, or information they may need.
Send a Signal
Most boats also have an EPIRB on board — a device that broadcasts a distressed signal if it is immersed in water. Why? Because if the ship's going down, the device will automatically alert someone — preferably someone who can help.
In a workflow, this means that if a user does bail, a notification is sent to someone — lead advisor, manager, or workflow guru who can provide additional guidance or come to the rescue.
Keep the Radio Lines Open
Encourage all your users to report glitches, redundancies, and anomalies. Feedback and open communication will do more to improve your workflows than almost anything else. Don't ever chastise a user for "doing it wrong" when they break something. Instead, encourage them to bring issues to your attention — promptly.
Practical tip: A simple reporting channel — even a dedicated email or form where users can drop a screenshot — goes a long way toward surfacing problems before they become patterns.
A good captain is one who not only tests the systems before launching but also has a back-up plan for unexpected events and listens to the crew. So, before you christen your next workflow — make sure she's not only seaworthy but is also equipped with the tools she'll need when the unexpected storm rolls in.