What is workflow optimization?
The purpose of workflow optimization is to recommend and implement methods that improve productivity and effectiveness. Successful workflow optimization reduces expenses, minimizes risks, and helps teams save time while completing important project tasks.
An effective workflow optimization strategy will introduce more operational efficiencies and give your organization a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
Why use the workflow optimization template
Your workflow optimization template is designed to break down larger projects into manageable tasks. Creating a more optimized approach to task management helps you set clear priorities and systematic, efficient workflows to complete high-priority tasks.
Focusing on optimizing internal workflows will deliver many benefits for your organization, and your workflow optimization template makes these efforts much easier.
Increased operational efficiency. Your team can refer to the workflow optimization template to review priorities, identify bottlenecks and save time by eliminating low-priority tasks.
Improved quality of work. Your template lists all tasks, priorities, deadlines and deliverables for all team members to view whenever they need. This means less room for error, and a higher quality of work throughout the entire project.
Easy access to relevant data. As projects evolve, your workflow optimization template highlights task dependencies and resource gaps. This keeps your team informed and ready to adjust schedules as needed.
More nimble teams. When team members have immediate access to new data, they have the capacity to adapt and respond accordingly. By helping your team become nimble and agile, they’ll remain more competitive, efficient and productive.
Greater transparency and accountability. Your template ensures every team member understands their tasks and how their work fits into the larger project. This reduces confusion and encourages accountability for smoother project outcomes.
The goal of this Kanban template is to optimize workflows by breaking down the process into manageable tasks with clear priorities. It helps ensure a systematic and efficient approach to improving processes. The template is itself an example of an optimized digital workflow through the use of sections, tasks, tags, due dates and more.
How to use your workflow optimization template
Whether you’re a financial institution digitizing your customer database, a warehouse managing shipments, or an office administrator creating onboarding guides for new employees — your workflow optimization template can help any workplace scenario become more efficient and effective.
Here’s a quick guide for how to use your template to achieve the best possible outcomes.
Step 1: Create tasks in each section
Create a new task by clicking the + in any section of your project board. Be sure to add a detailed description of the expectations and deliverables so that team members understand the scope of the task.
Next, assign due dates for each task. This helps your team members to optimize their work schedules around the intended deliverable dates.
Step 2: Add tags and checklist items
As you create tasks, you can use tags to organize tasks in order of priority. This way, team members can manage their work schedules so that the highest priority tasks are first on their list.
Use checklist items to break down larger tasks into more manageable steps. This gives the task assignee a detailed roadmap to complete the task effectively. Once each checklist item has been ticked off, the task assignee can mark the task as complete.
Step 3: Create your task management timeline
Use your template’s built-in project timeline feature to visually display the optimized project workflow. Click the “Show project timeline” option at the top of your project board to activate the Gantt chart feature.
Drag each of your tasks from your project board onto the project timeline and horizontally assign the appropriate start and end dates. This will create a visual overview of all tasks and project dependencies. It allows workers and other project stakeholders to view the optimized workflow and intended deliverable deadlines so that the full project scope remains on track.
Step 4: Monitor status updates and keep task workflows moving
Use the Reports feature of your workflow optimization template to evaluate project performance. You can view how many tasks were completed on time and on budget, as well as compare where there were gaps in the intended workflow. The Reports feature helps you honestly evaluate project performance so that you can make improvements to better optimize future projects in the pipeline.
