How to Identify Workflow Bottlenecks

80% of workflow bottlenecks are hiding in plain sight. But most teams don’t look closely enough to see them. When I design workflows, I don’t add new tools right away or build complex systems. I start by mapping the current process. Without knowing every step, we’re just guessing at what’s slowing us down. Here’s my go-to checklist for spotting the hidden issues: 1 - Map every step Document each click, handoff, and decision. Most teams skip this, but it’s where the real insights are. 2 - Spot repetitive tasks Repeated steps often go unnoticed. They feel like “just part of the job” but usually add no real value. 3 - Measure task times Check how long each step actually takes. When times drag, it’s a sign of inefficiency that needs fixing. 4 - Look for approval delays Every extra approval is a potential bottleneck. Too many checks can slow things down more than they help. 5 - Align skills with tasks Ensure tasks fit the person’s skill level. If experts are doing routine work, it’s time to rethink the setup. 6 - Automate simple tasks Automation isn’t about flashy tools. It’s about freeing up your team’s time for critical work, not admin tasks. It’s surprising how often these basics are ignored. Do this if you want to do more with less. Or skip it if you’re okay with unnecessary delays and wasted resources.

Kanban: We Should Be "Done" With "In-Progress" One of the best ways to use Kanban is by visualizing meaningful work states on your board. Thoughtfully designed boards can transform how teams deliver value, spot inefficiencies, and improve collaboration. Unfortunately, many teams miss these opportunities by relying on vague, catch-all columns like “In-Progress.” Let’s talk about why “In-Progress” is practically useless, and how breaking it into clearer work states is a smarter strategy. Why “In-Progress” Fails The term “In-Progress” might seem harmless, but it’s so broad that it adds little value. “In-Progress” doesn’t explain what’s actually happening. Is a task being coded, reviewed, or tested? Without specifics, delays and inefficiencies stay hidden. A generic column hides bottlenecks. For example, slow code reviews go unnoticed when everything sits under “In-Progress.” Vague statuses make it harder to know who should act next. Confusion leads to reduced accountability, delays, and misaligned expectations. Without data showing where tasks spend the most time, teams can’t identify trends or resolve inefficiencies. The Case for Clarity Replacing “In-Progress” with specific work states turns a Kanban board into a powerful tool for managing flow and driving improvement. For example, a software development team might use: Backlog: Items awaiting prioritization. Ready for Development: Work ready to start. In Development: Developers are actively working. Ready for Code Review: Development is complete, awaiting review. In Code Review: Review process underway. Ready for Testing: Code is ready for QA. In Testing: QA is actively testing. Ready for Deployment: Testing is complete, awaiting release. Done: Work is completed. Each state reflects a clear step in the workflow (not necessarily a handoff). This improves visibility, accountability, and makes bottlenecks easier to spot. Your team’s context might call for different states, but the goal stays the same: clarity. Spotting Bottlenecks Granular states make delays visible. If tasks sit too long in “Ready for Code Review,” reviewers may be overloaded or not prioritizing reviews. A backlog in “Ready for Deployment” could mean release processes need work. Tasks stuck “In Testing” might point to unclear requirements or a stretched QA team. Tracking time-in-state reveals where delays occur, helping teams reallocate resources or refine processes. Collaboration Benefits Meaningful work states improve collaboration. When a task moves to “Ready for Testing,” testers know it’s their turn to act. This reduces idle time and makes transitions smoother. Be Done With “In-Progress” Create columns for key steps in your workflow. Don’t overcomplicate things. Aim for enough granularity to reveal bottlenecks without overwhelming your team with administrivia. Set clear entry and exit criteria for each column. Kanban isn’t just about making work visible; it’s about making the right work visible.

Every transaction tells a story. Don't just read the first and last chapters. 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗘𝟮𝗘 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀. A delayed approval. A mismatched invoice. A system glitch. These tiny hiccups in the middle can snowball into massive headaches—delays, upset customers, and endless firefighting to get things back on track. That’s why End-to-End Transaction Analysis matters. It forces you to stop and look at the entire process—not just the highlights—and figure out where things slow down or break. Here are some tips that have worked for me: 𝟭. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹. Pick one process, maybe vendor payments or procurement, and map out every step. Look for the obvious bottlenecks. 𝟮. 𝗔𝘀𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀. Where do things slow down? Who’s always waiting on who? What’s the one step everyone complains about? 𝟯. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝘀. Track what’s happening, not just what went wrong. Look for trends in delays or errors. 𝟰. 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲. If the same problems keep happening, find a way to streamline the process. Tools like Germain UX give you visibility across the whole process to pinpoint and fix inefficiencies. Smooth workflows don’t just happen. They’re built by paying attention to the things most people ignore. What's your tip for keeping transactions running smoothly? #SessionReplay #CustomerExperience #ProcessMining #DigitalExperience #Observability #UX Follow me for weekly updates on the latest tools and trends in UX and productivity.

✅ Flow Fix Checklist How to uncover hidden capacity—before buying new machines or hiring more people 1. Calculate Your Takt Time 📌 Takt Time = Available Time ÷ Customer Demand This gives you the pace your process should run to meet demand without overproduction. 2. Measure Actual Process Times 🎯 Track the real time each task takes—not what’s on paper. 3. Identify Workload Per Operator 🛠️ Add up each person’s total task time. Who’s overloaded? Who’s waiting? 4. Compare to Takt Time 📏 If task time > takt time → imbalance. If task time < takt time → possible underutilization. 5. Balance the Line 🔄 Adjust task assignments so each operator stays just under takt time. 6. Watch WIP (Work in Progress) 👀 High WIP = broken flow. Check where it piles up—it often points to the bottleneck. 7. Look for Small Wins ✅ A 30-second fix repeated 100 times = hours saved. Start with low-effort, high-impact changes. 💬 Want help applying this? DM me “FLOW” on LinkedIn and I’ll show you how to apply these steps in your own process—with zero fluff and high ROI.

Last week, I cut a team’s delivery time from 14 days to 3. No new tools. No new hires. Most “best practices” are just busywork. I proved it in under a week. This was inside a global consumer brand. The kind where 6 departments want signoff before anything moves. The team thought every step was necessary. But most were just legacy habits. They were clinging to steps they couldn’t even explain. ___________________________________________ So I mapped out the process with them: - We looked at every step, one by one. - I asked: “Why do we do this?” - No clear answer? We cut it. What I found was that most of the 14 days weren’t spent prepping assets. They were spent waiting on feedback, file uploads, people to open emails and approvals from multiple departments. Once we stripped the unnecessary steps, here’s what the new flow looked like: One portal. One timeline. Inline comments. Instant download. Done. ___________________________________________ We removed 7 steps. Seven. Gone. Just by fixing the flow. Now the work, flows. The team moves faster. And no one’s gasping for air by Thursday If your workflow feels heavy and slow, try this: → List your steps. → Ask: “Does this actually move us forward?” → If not, cut it. You don’t need more time. You need fewer steps. Keep it lean Was this helpful? ___________________________________________ PS: I share the juicy stuff in my comment section

The ServiceNow Optimization Cheatsheet What to Check When You Inherit a Mess Most leaders don’t walk into a clean ServiceNow instance. You inherit overgrown categories, broken workflows, and dashboards full of noise instead of insights. Before you burn it all down or launch a 6-month rebuild—start here. Here’s what to verify, tweak, and track first to regain control: 1. Core Config Checks These are your “pop the hood” items: ↳ Roles & Access: Avoid over-permissioning—check sys_user_role. ↳ Assignment Groups: Clarify who owns what and eliminate duplicates. ↳ Categories/Subcategories: Remove clutter so reports make sense. ↳ SLA Definitions: Match to actual team capacity, not wishful thinking. 2. Workflow Watchpoints Where most delays and escalations start: ↳ Incident Routing: Are tickets assigned to the wrong team? ↳ Escalation Rules: Are loops or bottlenecks baked in? ↳ Change Approvals: Are they misaligned or missing entirely? ↳ Task Dependencies: Are upstream/downstream steps clearly mapped? 3. Dashboards That Actually Matter Use these metrics to spot the mess: ↳ First Contact Resolution = Tier 1 effectiveness ↳ Mean Time to Resolution = Bottlenecks ↳ Ticket Aging = Burnout risk ↳ SLA Breaches = Trust killers 4. Quick Wins That Buy You Time Fix these first: ↳ Auto-routing by category ↳ Top 10 KB articles in the portal ↳ Test ticket > escalation > resolution flow ↳ “One-click” ticket filters for agents You don’t need a full rebuild to make ServiceNow work better. Just a smarter starting point. What's the first thing you check when someone hands you the keys to a messy instance? ♻️ Repost to help someone who inherited a ServiceNow nightmare. 🔔 Follow Bob Roark for no-BS ITSM leadership strategies.

Start by carefully analyzing your business processes from end to end. Look for areas where: - work piles up - deadlines are missed - quality suffers These are likely indicators of your constraint. The weak link holding everything else back. Once identified, resist the urge to tackle multiple issues simultaneously. Instead, channel all available resources into resolving this single constraint.

Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a Lean tool used to visualize, analyze and improve the flow of materials and information required to deliver a product or service to a customer. It helps identify waste, reduce process inefficiencies, and design a future state that adds more value with less effort. What Is a Value Stream? A value stream includes all the actions (both value-adding and non-value-adding) required to bring a product or service from concept to customer: Material Flow (e.g., raw materials to finished goods) Information Flow (e.g., order entry to delivery) Purpose of Value Stream Mapping Identify waste (muda) in the process Visualize end-to-end process flow Align cross-functional teams on improvement opportunities Develop a "future state" map for improvement Serve as a baseline for continuous improvement Key Components of a Value Stream Map 1. Customer Requirements: Positioned at the top right and shows what the customer needs (volume, frequency, mix) 2. Process Steps: Shown as boxes across the middle of the map and each box represents a key process (e.g., assembly, packaging, inspection) 3. Material Flow: Arrows connecting process boxes (left to right) and Includes transport, inventory, and delays 4. Information Flow: Dashed lines from production control to processes and shows communication systems (ERP, schedules, Kanban) 5. Timeline (Process Data Box), Each step includes: Cycle Time (CT): Time to complete the process Changeover Time (C/O): Time to switch products Uptime: Machine reliability First Pass Yield (FPY): % of good units first try Inventory: Between steps 6. Timeline Bar (Bottom of Map) Splits value-added time vs non-value-added (waste) time Exposes bottlenecks, delays, and areas to improve Steps to Create a Value Stream Map 1. Select the Product or Service Family: Choose a single product or service line that shares common processes. 2. Define the Scope: Decide start and end points (e.g., from order to delivery or raw material to customer). 3. Walk the Gemba (Go to the Worksite): Observe actual operations, don’t rely on assumptions. 4. Create the Current State Map: Document each process step, process data (cycle times, yields, WIP), flow of materials and information 5. Analyze for Waste, Look for: Overproduction, Waiting, Transport, Over-processing, Inventory, Motion & Defects 6. Design the Future State Map: Propose improvements: Pull system or Kanban, Balanced flow,Takt time alignment Reduced WIP 7. Develop an Action Plan: Include timelines, owners and Kaizen events to realize the future state, best practices, map with a cross-functional team, use Post-its or magnets for flexibility, use standard icons (Lean VSM symbols), create both current and future state maps, apply PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) for implementation Output of VSM: Clear view of end-to-end operations, data-driven improvement targets, basis for Lean initiatives (like Kaizen, SMED, 5S), enhanced collaboration across silos

𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬: 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐱 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐠. (It’s not headcount. It’s not tech. It’s delay.) Every unnecessary sign-off. Every unclear approval path. Every well-meaning gatekeeper... → adds friction to your most valuable workflows. And as a leader, you don’t always see it—until the cost shows up in burnout, missed deadlines, and stalled growth. But what if AI could help you find (and fix) the 10% of roles responsible for 70% of the delay? 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚-𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐀𝐈 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫: Industry Metrics (you’ll want to screenshot this): • 10–30% of operating costs = tied up in inefficiency • Knowledge workers lose 9.3 hrs/week on unnecessary wait time • AI/automation can slash indirect costs by 15–20% within 12–18 months 𝐓𝐡𝐞 4-𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐀𝐈-𝐏𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐔𝐧𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐞.. 1. Slice 10% Pick 2–3 roles in your highest-value workflow. The "thin slice" gives you 70% of the insight of a full-scale audit—with 10% of the effort. 2. Diagnose with AI Ask ChatGPT: "Estimate weekly hours each role spends on approvals. Flag any over 20%." This spots the "guardian paradox"—where well-meaning protectors become bottlenecks. 3. Pilot a Fix—Fast (Think: Plan → Do → Check → Act) • Plan: Use AI to pinpoint the “Form Lord” or “Access Czar” in your workflow • Do: Pilot a self-service option, automation, or simplified approval path • Check: Re-measure how long the process takes • Act: If it works, scale the fix across similar teams You don’t need a six-month project. You need one high-friction step, one experiment, one fast win. 4. Quantify the ROI Time saved × fully loaded rate = the case your CFO will love 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫: • 60% cycle-time gains—without ripping out systems • 15–20% cost savings—without headcount cuts • Become the leader who brought AI with ROI • Turn bottleneck bosses into flow enablers—watch morale soar This week’s challenge: Pick one high-friction process. Run the 10% slice through an LLM. Pilot one fix. Track the before/after. Then post your story with #IntelligentWorkflows. Leaders go first. Let’s show the org how it’s done. ♻️ Repost if this gave you something to think about.