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Step 1: Define your output
Envision your goal
The first step to workflow architecture is to start backwards and envision your goal. Before you actually architect a workflow, think about the content you’re trying to create—what it looks like and what it’s composed of.
Key questions to ask when defining your output
- How will the content be consumed?
- Will you comment in Google Docs, or interact directly in your CMS or another piece of software?
- Is there a required data structure based on that consumption method?
- For a CMS connection, do you need HTML to render text, or is Markdown enough?
- What is the output composed of?
- Text, images, or a mix of both?
Dive into detail
Anatomy of an Article
An article includes components beyond the main text. Consider what your CMS requires as a starting point for data fields:
- Tag
- Title
- Author header
- Image
- Any other metadata
Text Anatomy
The article text itself has its own structure. If you’re generating an article, map out the elements you need:
- Introduction
- H2 headers, H3 headers
- Quotes or callouts
- Paragraphs and lists
Other Content Types
Each format has its own anatomy. For example:
- LinkedIn post: headline, body, hashtags
- Email: subject line, recipient name, body text
Once you begin to think about the output that you expect from the workflow, it’ll be much easier to the workflow backwards.
