Work and systems

Create a workflow that earns its place.

Start with repeated work, not a fashionable tool. Measure the time at stake, choose the smallest useful intervention, and turn it into steps you can repeat.

Return on time

Measure the opportunity

Use a reasonable estimate. The goal is to expose whether the workflow is worth building.

Repeated task

Minutes now

Minutes after

Times per week

What kind of friction creates the wasted time?

Time returned weekly1 hr60 minutes

Time returned yearly52 hrsBased on 52 weeks

Maximum sensible setup4 hrsFour-week payback limit

This is worth a small workflow experiment. Keep setup below four hours and test it on real work.

Your practical workflow

Build the smallest repeatable system.

Complete the three fields. Specific steps make the workflow easier to test, hand off, and improve.

Define

Name the exact input and the result that means the task is done.

Choose

Use the simplest feature that removes repeated entry.

Systemize

Write the short sequence you will follow every time.