I was tasked with a rather open-ended assignment: to document the workflow processes of my organization. I spoke with my coworkers and boss and concluded that this task would not only cover programming-related documentation, but also office workflows of past, present, and future tasks.
As a recent-hire, my ability to modify behavior and habits are limited. However, this does not mean I am unable to influence behavior and habits. I've done some research on the subject on the Workplace:
- How to start a discussion in a startup in order to start using a more useful workflow tool
- How do I effectively handle this situation of no workflow?
- How do I request new equipment for the office?
To name a couple.
My current strategy is to identify tools and software that are currently available to the organization, namely office 365, and start to utilize the tools to my current assigned projects and assignments (Planner, Yammer, Flow) and then invite project teammates to the service. Essentially, hook: invite, line: let's collaborate and keep track of things, sinker: let us start to use the tool for other projects.
The contents of my research have me to conclude that much of the best-practices is to present the needs as a cost-benefit comparison and how it will impact the organization as a whole (increase efficiency, tracking, etc...) I have high confidence that this method would work from a top-down approach. i.e. Management, after reviewing my analysis and proposals, will then make a decision and then implement from the top-down.
What I see as a missed opportunity in their answers is:
- How do I create buy-in and influence coworkers as an equal, innocuously?
Update as of 2017-09-25
Brief update as it has been a couple months since I've started. Given the advice from this question, I've thought about Thomas' suggestions seriously and I've introduced Microsoft Planner into the task-management side of things for the office.
Results:
- There is buy-in, but utilization is limited to the data-oriented side of the shop, as most have their personal means of task management.
- I did not impose the tool on anyone, it was more along the lines of "this is how I track things, feel free to try it out or not, if you have any questions, let me know and I'll help"
Now that I have a means of keeping track of what was done, the next step would be how it is done. My current plan is to use a wiki-based documentation for workflow processes. I've gotten permission to execute, but implementation is currently on the back-burner until current projects complete.