Grow Your Workflow

Your workflow is costing you money. Ruth Hamilton shares some expert advice to help you invest your time wisely

- Ruth Hamilton

When your bank balance isn’t looking as healthy as it should be, the tendency is to scrutinize your fee structure or focus on attracting more work. And while both of these things absolutely warrant your attention, it’s also worth looking internally at your workflow. It’s easy to forget that in business your time is worth money.

Finding the most efficient workflow will help you widen your margins in the long run. For this article, we asked web professionals for tips on how to make sure you’re investing your time in the right places and advice on cutting the fat from your workflow. Here’s what they said.

TURN OFF (ALMOST ALL) YOUR NOTIFICATIONS

Push notifications can quickly derail a workflow. Think about the things you genuinely need to know about immediately and turn off all other notifications. Web designer Taylor Dunham (www.taylordunhamdesign.com) has hers whittled down to meeting reminders and phone calls – and she’s not averse to turning even those off if she needs to get some serious work done. “Do-not disturb mode on Mac and iOS is a wonderful feature,” she adds.

TALK RATHER THAN EMAIL

If you’re working within a team, make sure you’ve found a way to communicate efficiently. While it can seem easiest to ping someone an email or Slack message, sometimes it’s better to bite the bullet and actually talk to them – whether that’s via a call or in person. This can also help bypass costly miscommunications further down the line.