Many of the workflows that we see new users import today are long and complex. These often take the form of single, run-on task lists with over a dozen steps, that we know you dread to use.

When loaded up with numerous clients, traditional workflow tools get really busy, making it impossible to see an overview of what needs your attention at a glance.

Despite establishing a somewhat repeatable experience for your clients, by and large, dreadfully long and complex workflows do more harm than good:

Here at Hubly, we recommend taking a simple 3-step approach to planning key processes based on best practices that we’ve seen work time and time again for hundreds of users.

We think of a Process as a funnel or a Kanban board, with each Workflow acting as a stage in the Process:

Clients usually start in the Workflows on the left side of the screen, and then get moved through the different Workflows to their right:

You do not have to move every client through every Workflow in the order that they appear on your screen:

When planned well, these Workflows represent stages in your Process that make it easy to see where every client is at, and spot what work needs to be prioritized:

Now that you’re done, you can connect each Workflow in Hubly so that clients will flow through by indicting the Next Workflow:

Hit Done to save your changes.

You can see that all of your newly created Workflows have been added to the Workflow Menu, which is a library where you will find these Workflows individually listed:

You can also group these Workflows into one Process, which is like a folder that allows you to select all grouped Workflows at the same time to be displayed in your Hub.

Select the + Process button within the Workflow Menu:

Give it a name:

Select the Workflows you would like to include and hit Save:

To keep things simple, we generalize all Workflows into two distinct types:

Workflows that see a high volume of clients and are used frequently throughout the year should be kept brief:

Tasks should be documented in a way that allows the user (you or a team member) to simply indicate where they left off, like a bookmark:

Additional details or instructions should be documented as Descriptions on those tasks:

Otherwise, unnecessarily long task lists in highly used Workflows will become a burden to complete.

Workflows that see a low volume of clients and are used infrequently through the year can be well documented with longer task lists:

Start by reviewing your first Workflow — is this high or low volume? Are there too many, or not enough steps to guide a user through it?

Proper documentation, in this case, will help ensure accuracy and efficiency, helping you and your team avoid unnecessary delays due to known issues or the need to research the procedure every time.

We recommend always starting simple until you’ve driven at least one real client through a Workflow.

There are many ways that automated actions can save you time in Hubly. From setting smart reminders for your Workflow Tasks to categorizing Clients into Streams and Tags as they move through a Workflow.

However, the only helpful automation is the one that saves you time!

For this reason, we always recommend waiting until you’ve driven at least a couple of real clients through a Workflow.

Automations, like adjustments to your Task lists, are best added retroactively.

Try pre-configuring a sequential task reminder that Hubly will automatically schedule upon your completion of the preceding Task:

Try adding a Zapier trigger that monitors the form and adds the client to a specific Workflow automatically in Hubly:

Try adding an Add or Remove Stream/Tag Rule to trigger when the client is added or completes that specific Workflow:

Try adding an Age-Based Rule to monitor clients and add them to that specific Workflow when (or before/after) they turn a specific age:

Try adding a Repeating Rule to add specific groups of clients to a Workflow on set frequencies:

Try adding an Important Client Date Rule to monitor a group of clients and add them to that specific Workflow a set amount of time before/after an individual client date:

The goal is not to foresee and plan for every possible scenario — the trick is again to keep it simple. Automated actions can save you time, or just as easily burry you in a tidal wave of clients.

Start by sprinkling on automated actions to prop up your existing work, instead of introducing new (sometimes aspirational) touchpoints into the client service cycle.

Test these out, see how they work, and iterate.

Hubly makes it easy to adopt a mindset where you plan, test, and improve over time — making your operations more efficient with every passing cycle of client work.

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