Improved Workflows: Aligning Expectations (Part 1 of 3)

Although there is no one workflow that will fit all products and purposes, I have decided to write about the three problems that, in my experience, happen across products and companies. There are far more than three things necessary for an efficient, streamlined workflow, but these three will give you a head start. You can contact me for more.

Let's start at the beginning: aligning expectations. For a project to be completed on time, on budget, and as expected (e.g., high quality), it is imperative that everyone involved be aware of its parameters, deadlines, components, etc. from the get-go. Surprises may be pleasant in your personal life (or not), but they are a disaster when it comes to getting work done.

Below are a few suggestions to avoid these nasty surprises:

• Contracts: All department heads should own the boilerplate language that affects their function and any variations or change to the boilerplate must require their sign-off. It is not enough to ask their approval as you pass them in the hall or supposedly by phone--it must be documented and clearly signed-off.
• Author Guidelines: Create easy to read, brief author guidelines outlining the entire publishing process and send these to the authors with their contracts and a cover pages summarizing the highlights. Stress what he'll need to do, when, and in what format. The editor should follow-up to ensure the author has at least read the summary and understands what is expected.
• Product and Workflow Type: In this day and age when most publishers have a combination of print only, print to digital, digital only and many other variations, it is important that everyone know exactly which of these categories any given project falls under so that they can plan and execute appropriately.
• Communication Alert System: Even when expectations are aligned up front, changes sometimes occur; it is therefore important to have a system in place whereby these changes get communicated to all appropriate parties. If you have a workflow management system that can automate this, great; if not, create e-mail distribution lists and clear guidelines as to who sends out which alert.

Part 2 will deal with schedules, the next "pain point" in many workflows.