# Workflow Mapping

## Purpose
Document and visualize how customers currently accomplish the job they're hiring your product to do, revealing friction points, workarounds, and opportunities for improvement.

## When to Use
- Understanding the current state before designing solutions
- Identifying the biggest pain points in a process
- Finding opportunities to save time or reduce errors
- Designing products that fit into existing workflows
- Comparing how different customer segments work

## Process

### 1. Select the Workflow to Map

**Choose a workflow that:**
- Is directly related to the problem you're solving
- Happens frequently enough to matter
- Involves steps that could be improved
- You can observe or customers can describe

**Define boundaries:**
- Start trigger: "When [X happens], the workflow begins"
- End state: "The workflow ends when [Y is achieved]"
- Scope: Include related activities, exclude tangential ones

### 2. Gather the Raw Data

**Methods to collect workflow data:**

**Customer interviews:**
- "Walk me through the last time you did [task]"
- "What's the very first thing you do?"
- "Then what? And after that?"
- "What tools do you use at each step?"

**Observation:**
- Watch customers do the task
- Note every action, even small ones
- Time each step
- Record tool switches

**Self-documentation:**
- Have customers record themselves
- Use screen recording
- Ask for screenshots of their tools
- Review their existing documentation

### 3. Map the Steps

Create a linear or branching flow:

```
[Trigger] → [Step 1] → [Step 2] → [Decision] → [Step 3a] or [Step 3b] → [End State]
```

**For each step, capture:**
- Action: What do they do?
- Tool: What do they use?
- Time: How long does it take?
- Pain: What's difficult about it?
- Frequency: How often (if repeating)?

### 4. Use the Workflow Template

| Step | Action | Tool | Time | Pain Level (1-5) | Notes |
|------|--------|------|------|------------------|-------|
| 1 | Check for new requests | Email | 5 min | 2 | Scattered across threads |
| 2 | Prioritize requests | Spreadsheet | 15 min | 4 | Manual, error-prone |
| 3 | Research each item | Google/wiki | 30 min | 3 | Information scattered |
| 4 | Draft response | Word doc | 20 min | 2 | Template helps |
| 5 | Get approval | Email chain | varies | 5 | Bottleneck, delays |
| 6 | Send response | Email | 5 min | 1 | Easy |

**Total time:** 75 min + approval delay
**Highest pain:** Steps 2 and 5

### 5. Identify Friction Types

Categorize the pain points:

**Time waste:**
- Manual data entry
- Waiting for approvals
- Searching for information
- Switching between tools

**Error-prone:**
- Copy-paste between systems
- Manual calculations
- Inconsistent processes
- No validation

**Frustrating:**
- Repetitive tasks
- Unclear next steps
- Lack of visibility
- Dependencies on others

**Missing:**
- No tracking/history
- No alerts/reminders
- No templates
- No automation

### 6. Calculate Workflow Metrics

**Time metrics:**
- Total workflow time
- Time per step
- Wait time vs. active time
- Frequency (per day/week)

**Quality metrics:**
- Error rate
- Rework percentage
- Completion rate
- Customer satisfaction

**Cost metrics:**
- Labor cost per workflow
- Tool costs
- Opportunity cost of delays
- Cost of errors

**Example calculation:**
- 75 minutes per workflow
- 20 workflows per week
- 25 hours/week on this task
- At $50/hour = $1,250/week = $65,000/year

### 7. Find Opportunities

**Look for:**

**Automation opportunities:**
Steps that are:
- Rule-based (if X, then Y)
- Repetitive and consistent
- Low judgment required
- High time investment

**Elimination opportunities:**
Steps that are:
- Vestigial (no longer needed)
- Redundant (done elsewhere too)
- Low-value compliance
- Unnecessary approvals

**Simplification opportunities:**
Steps that are:
- Overly complex
- Use wrong tools
- Lack templates/defaults
- Missing guidance

**Integration opportunities:**
- Tool switches that cause friction
- Copy-paste between systems
- Re-entering the same data
- Manual data synchronization

### 8. Prioritize Improvements

Score each opportunity:

| Opportunity | Pain Reduction | Time Saved | Feasibility | Priority |
|-------------|----------------|------------|-------------|----------|
| Auto-prioritize requests | High | 15 min | Medium | 1 |
| Eliminate approval step | High | 20 min | Low | 3 |
| Create response templates | Medium | 10 min | High | 2 |
| Integrate email + task | Medium | 5 min | Medium | 4 |

### 9. Compare Across Segments

Map the same workflow for different customer types:

| Step | Segment A | Segment B | Segment C |
|------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Request intake | Email | Slack | Ticketing system |
| Prioritization | Manual | Team meeting | Automated |
| Research | Google | Internal wiki | CRM lookup |
| Total time | 75 min | 90 min | 45 min |
| Pain points | 2, 5 | 2, 4, 5 | 2 |

**Insight:** Segment C has already automated prioritization. Learn from them.

### 10. Synthesis

After mapping workflows:
- What's the total time and cost of this workflow today?
- Where are the biggest pain points?
- What would customers pay to eliminate those pains?
- Which improvements are feasible to build?
- How does your solution fit into this workflow?

## Example

**Context**: Mapping how recruiters screen candidates

### Workflow: Candidate Screening

**Trigger:** New application received
**End state:** Candidate advanced or rejected

### Current State Map

| Step | Action | Tool | Time | Pain (1-5) |
|------|--------|------|------|------------|
| 1 | Check ATS for new applicants | Greenhouse | 5 min | 1 |
| 2 | Open each resume | PDF viewer | 2 min each | 2 |
| 3 | Read resume (100+) | PDF viewer | 5 min each | 4 |
| 4 | Check LinkedIn profile | LinkedIn | 3 min each | 3 |
| 5 | Score candidate | Spreadsheet | 2 min each | 4 |
| 6 | Write notes | Greenhouse | 3 min each | 3 |
| 7 | Decision: advance or reject | Greenhouse | 1 min each | 2 |
| 8 | Send rejection email | Greenhouse | 1 min each | 1 |
| 9 | Schedule interview | Calendly | 5 min each | 3 |

**For 100 applicants:**
- Steps 2-6: ~15 min each × 100 = 25 hours
- Steps 7-9: ~7 min each × 20 advanced = 2.3 hours
- **Total: ~27 hours per role**

### Pain Point Analysis

**Step 3 (Read resume) - Pain 4:**
- "Most resumes are irrelevant"
- "I can tell in 30 seconds but still have to document"
- "No way to bulk filter"

**Step 5 (Score candidate) - Pain 4:**
- "I use different criteria each time"
- "Hard to compare candidates objectively"
- "Managers question my decisions"

### Opportunity Identification

| Opportunity | Pain Addressed | Time Saved | Feasibility |
|-------------|----------------|------------|-------------|
| AI pre-screen resumes | Steps 2-3 | 7 min × 80% = 5.6 min/app | High |
| Standardized scorecard | Step 5 | 1 min/app + consistency | High |
| Auto-rejection emails | Step 8 | 1 min × 80 = 80 min | Medium |
| LinkedIn enrichment | Step 4 | 2 min/app | Medium |

### Proposed Future State

| Step | Action | Tool | Time | Pain |
|------|--------|------|------|------|
| 1 | Check ATS | Greenhouse | 5 min | 1 |
| 2 | Review AI-filtered top 20 | AI Tool | 5 min | 1 |
| 3 | Deep review top 20 | AI Tool + LinkedIn | 5 min each | 2 |
| 4 | Score using standard criteria | AI Tool | 1 min each | 1 |
| 5 | Decision | Greenhouse | 1 min each | 1 |
| 6 | Auto-send rejections | AI Tool | 0 min | 0 |
| 7 | Schedule interviews | Calendly | 5 min each | 2 |

**For 100 applicants:**
- AI pre-screens: ~30 min
- Deep review 20: ~2 hours
- Decisions + scheduling: ~1 hour
- **Total: ~3.5 hours per role**

### Value Proposition

**Time saved:** 27 hours → 3.5 hours = **23.5 hours saved per role**
**At $75/hour:** $1,762 value per role
**10 roles/month:** $17,620/month potential value

**Key insight:** Workflow mapping revealed that 92% of time was spent on candidates who would be rejected. The solution doesn't need to be better at screening—it needs to eliminate obvious non-fits faster, letting recruiters spend time on serious candidates.
