Workflow Optimisation Playbook, Step by Step for 2027

Find the bottleneck in a team workflow, cut handoffs and waiting, and automate small repeat tasks with tools you already have, in six plays you can run in 30 days.

Who it's for

Team leaders, office and operations managers, and anyone who runs a workflow that passes through several pairs of hands: client onboarding, repair requests, orders, applications or approvals. It is about quick improvements one team can make in a few weeks, not an organisation-wide programme.

What you'll learn

• Take a one-hour snapshot of a workflow from three real cases, recording work time, wait time, handoffs and rework
• Find the step that limits the whole flow from a week of counts, and free it with the five focusing steps from Eliyahu Goldratt's theory of constraints, with Little's law as a quick check on waiting time
• Cut handoffs, approvals and waiting with the eliminate, combine, rearrange, simplify checklist from work study, smaller batches and a “ready to start” standard for new requests
• Write a one-page procedure from how your best performer does a task, and test it with a newcomer
• Automate small repeat tasks with features of software you already pay for, after checking personal data and permissions
• Pilot each change with simple before-and-after measures, decide to keep, adjust or roll back, and hand it to a named owner

What's inside

• 39 pages, 6 plays
• Every play sets out its objective, when to use it and when not to, the time, people and materials it needs, numbered steps, a diagram, a ready-to-use template, an illustrative example from a fictional UK organisation and common mistakes to avoid
• One template per play: Workflow Snapshot, Bottleneck Finder, Handoff and Approval Audit, One-Page Procedure, Quick Automation Shortlist, and Improvement Pilot Card
• A closing action plan, Your 30-Day Workflow Action Plan, with a one-page checklist that takes one workflow through all six plays in four weeks
• PDF in A4 format — read on screen or print
• Instant download after purchase

Contents

1. Take a One-Hour Workflow Snapshot
2. Find and Free the Bottleneck
3. Cut Handoffs, Approvals and Waiting
4. Write One-Page Procedures for Repeat Work
5. Automate the Small Stuff With Tools You Already Have
6. Measure the Before and After, Then Hand It Over

Part of The Business Library

This playbook is one of the 55 ebooks in The Business Library, available together for £109 (worth £1,437 if bought separately: the total of the individual prices of the included titles in our store). It is also included in The Ultimate Business Bundle, which adds 8 checklists and toolkits and 10 workbooks — all 73 products for £147.