With all of the demands that the fast-paced world of business places on a hard-working individual, meeting all of your goals can seem like an intimidating task. But even seemingly insurmountable tasks can be made more manageable by approaching them in an intelligent, strategic manner. Here are some ways that you can improve workflow to take care of your responsibilities and meet your goals most effectively.

First Things First: Improving Workflow Where It Matters Most

Taking Inventory of Your Challenges

The first step in improving your workflow is gaining an understanding of the full scope of your responsibilities. Take a moment to gather up all of the tasks that you have to get done into a single list. Everything, from the most basic and mundane to the highest importance tasks, should be included to give you a full sense of the workload that you’re responsible for.

Understand How to Prioritize Effectively

Once you have your task list written out, it’s time to start thinking strategically about how to turn that list into an effective workflow strategy. Tackling the extensive responsibilities that you have in front of you and achieving long-term goals comes down to your ability to prioritize tasks. Otherwise, you may simply spend your time doing tasks that have no real bearing on your ultimate goal, resulting in wasted time.

Take a look at each item that you came up with on your list of responsibilities. See if any of the broader, larger goals can be broken down into more manageable, time-related goals. Once you’ve done that, assess each of the tasks for their urgency, the estimated time they would take, and how they move you towards your ultimate goal. Once you’ve identified what the most important tasks are, start setting yourself realistic deadlines so that you aren’t working indefinitely.

Constantly Review and Set Realistic Goals

Improving your workflow isn’t a one-and-done process. You need to constantly keep an open mind and review your task list as the demands placed on you change. Develop your skill at realistically assessing how much effort a particular task will take.

Update your workflow plan as you go, taking into account your performance, the resources available to you, and other changing variables. Set goals that push your skills but that are realistically achievable so that you aren’t spending all of your time stressing over the insurmountable workload you have.

Find Tools That Help You Improve Workflow

Managing your own workflow is a complicated enough process, but even more variables are introduced when you need to manage the workflow of an entire team working on a project. Both of these processes can benefit from having the right project management tools on your side. With a clear and concise division of labor and a unified list of tasks and objectives, everybody working on a project can be on the same page.

Having the right tools on your side is essential, and our project implementation solutions will give you everything you need to improve your business’ workflow. Contact Project Genetics today for more information!

Every business can be boiled down to a sequence of small tasks. A group of tasks for a specific purpose is called a process. Tasks and processes truly are your business. Without them, there is no product, no service, and no end result. Nevertheless, businesses often ignore process development. Managers tend to zero in on the tasks with a micro-level approach, while executives focus on outcomes. As a result, processes can be messy, even in top organizations. Process optimization is necessary.

The Many Benefits of Process Optimization Consulting

Faster Operations

The order in which we perform a set of tasks can greatly impact the time it takes for other tasks or processes to be completed. Imagine if a pizzeria threw dough into the oven without any toppings, and then every two minutes, pulled the pizza out, added a topping, and put it back in. Repeat until ready. This approach, while certainly novel, is completely illogical and would add unnecessary time to the process. Your organization is far more complex than a pizza. Yet many of your processes have been born, not out of careful consideration and experimentation, but out of necessity. When businesses are in their infancy, they develop processes organically to address immediate needs. As businesses grow, these processes buckle under the weight of increased demand and complexity. However, everyone is so used to the way you do things that they cannot see a problem. An outsider can.

Adaptability

Another reason to consider having a consultant review your processes is that they can become more flexible with the right adjustments. We strive to inject agility into organizations because an agile approach gives your company the ability to change tactics quickly in the face of new circumstances. As we’ve all seen, life can throw events our way that can dramatically disrupt standard operating procedures. A well-designed process always accounts for the worst and has a plan B ready to go. Fail safes and versatile technology ensure quality without limiting your freedom.

Improved Onboarding

Better processes are easier to understand, and therefore easier to teach. Onboarding is always a challenge, but it can be streamlined considerably when your processes are intuitive and easy to comprehend. This all begins with your process documentation. Do you have a manual that tells employees how to execute their tasks? Have you outlined your processes? When you bring in a consultant, one of the first things they’ll do is review your process documentation. We often find that processes on paper don’t accurately describe what really happens in the workplace. This disconnect needs to be resolved. From there, we can look for ways to better communicate your processes.

Less Workplace Conflict

Squabbles and frustrations build when processes have no clear ownership. When no one is in charge of a specific task, it creates headaches. Smooth processes are those that transition seamlessly from person to person. We can find those processes that cause conflict and iron out the kinks that generate problems for your staff. Every process has room for improvement. Optimize your processes: Contact Project Genetics to set up an appointment.

When you want your business to truly embody the agile spirit, you need a platform that can help you scale agile ideas throughout your organization. It’s not enough to simply have a few trained leaders; your whole company should operate on agile principles. With the release of Scaled Agile Framework 5, also known as SAFe, businesses are able to take an agile approach to every facet of their operations. This approach translates to some serious real-world benefits.

3 Benefits of a Scaled Agile Framework

Productivity Boosts

Productivity is notoriously difficult to improve with a single solution. As output depends on numerous variables, finding the right buttons to push can be challenging. However, SAFe tends to result in massive gains in productivity since it holistically transforms how businesses operate. That means that each variable gets just what it needs and the final output is much greater than what you would expect. Consider ZKH Industrial Supply’s example.

This company is one of the largest providers of maintenance, repair, and operations products. They move millions of consumable goods to businesses so they can keep working. Since they deal in such large volumes, one of the biggest bottlenecks was order processing. After adopting SAFe, they reduced their order processing time by a factor of 8! In addition, they formed interdisciplinary product delivery teams (a trademark characteristic of agile enterprises) and were able to address customers’ issues faster.

More Flexibility

Much of the Lean Enterprise mentality that accompanies the SAFe model is driven by a desire for flexibility. Your organization needs to be able to adapt to changing circumstances. If the last few years weren’t proof enough, consider how some companies have benefited when they were able to adapt. A great example comes from FedEx.

Not only was global shipping stopped dead in its tracks as many ports were closed temporarily as lockdown orders were issued, but FedEx found themselves with more orders than ever as PPE and other medical supplies needed to shuffle around the world. Add in all of the online shopping that emerged, and FedEx had to shift its business dramatically. Thanks to the use of SAFe and Agile, they were able to reroute shipments without sacrificing delivery times.

Better Teams (And Happier Employees)

Nokia’s massive size makes collaboration complicated. With nearly 100,000 employees and over 40 Agile Release Trains (ARTs) the company has proven that if you adopt an agile approach, you can synchronize your staff’s efforts. Nokia mixes up their teams periodically to help transfer expertise from one ART to the next. Each product they make has its own team, but they never use the same team twice.

Their employees are overall quite satisfied with their jobs. Most employee reviews highlight how great the staff is and how well they work together. Nokia is just one example of how SAFe adoption results in a 10-50% increase in job satisfaction and engagement.

Upgrade Your Framework

How you view your tasks will determine how you tackle them. With SAFe 5, companies can scale Agile strategies with ease. Contact Project Genetics to learn more about the Scaled Agile Framework and how it can help your business to thrive regardless of the circumstances.
 

Demand for cloud-based applications has skyrocketed in recent years with the proliferation of decentralized computing, thanks to systems like AWS. Businesses can gain major advantages by moving their operations into the cloud. Nevertheless, a successful migration is only possible if you plot out the steps you’re going to take. When it comes to Workday implementation, you’ll want to make sure you don’t skip any of these five steps.
 

5 Steps to Preparing for Workday Implementation

1. Define the Scope

All too often we find that companies know that there are benefits to be gained from switching to cloud-based applications, but they haven’t specified what benefits they hope to achieve. Workday specifically targets finance, HR, and strategic planning through analytics. You should first set goals in these areas. Are you looking to simplify reporting, or speed up HR processes? What will Workday do for you?

Once you’ve defined your objectives you can then outline a timeframe for your implementation. Take into consideration the time it will take to train people on the new platform. Don’t forget that Workday pushes updates twice a year and so you’re probably going to have a feature update during your transition. Finalize your budget before you proceed so that you can avoid going over in the long term.

2. Review Processes

One of the biggest mistakes when moving into the cloud is to simply copy your existing process and try to duplicate it using a cloud-based application. Working in the cloud can often simplify your processes or even make some of them redundant entirely. Your goal should be to get more agile, more responsive, and ultimately more productive. Using the same old processes, even with better technology, won’t do that.

Give your processes a thorough review after you understand what Workday can do for you. You may want to consider bringing in consultants who specialize in process optimization to help you refine your processes and get them ready for the cloud.

3. Test and Refine

Another common error is to force everyone onto the cloud and then iron out the wrinkles as you go. If you do this, your staff will find the whole experience quite frustrating. Instead, consider working with a pilot group that is willing to test and provide feedback on the new tools. Ideally, your staff should get a turnkey experience. If they’re struggling with a broken system, they’ll be reluctant to embrace it in the future.

As you get up and running, test your workflow on Workday and continue to optimize your new processes.

4. Create New Documents

Once you’ve finalized your processes and have tested out the system, you’re ready to flip the switch. But before you do, document everything. You will need new manuals, new training materials, and new tutorials. If you can have these ready when you migrate, it’ll help staff adapt smoothly.

5. Migrate Data

Finally, all you need to do is migrate your data. It can be helpful to have experts on hand as redundancies can cause issues later. Likewise, migrations open the door to data theft, which can cripple your company.

If you want the best Workday implementation possible, contact Project Genetics to schedule an appointment. We can help you get it up and running and tailored to your company’s needs.