workflow

American  

[wurk-floh] / ˈwɜrkˌfloʊ /

noun

• workflows
  plural

1. the flow or amount of work to and from an office, department, or employee.

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Usage

What is a workflow? A workflow is most often a series of repeatable steps in completing a work project, such as creating a product (like a computer) or performing a service (like writing an article). For example, the steps in writing a news article might include:

1. Receive an assignment from your editor.
2. Research the topic.
3. Interview people involved.
4. Write an outline of the article.
5. Write the article.
6. Edit the article.
7. Hand in the article to your editor.

When a workflow involves more than one person, it will describe all the steps to be done as well as who will do them. It might also describe how long each step should take, where any physical objects should be moved to (as in manufacturing), and other details important to managing the workflow. Workflow is also the amount of work one or more workers or an entire organization has at one time, as in The machine shop’s workflow was so high that they hired temporary help. Example: The consultant was able to change the steps in our manufacturing workflow, and now we are sending out product orders on time.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• workflows
  plural

Etymology

Origin of workflow

First recorded in 1945–50; work + flow

Explanation

The step-by-step process you use to get a task done is workflow. You may not want to interrupt your workflow in the middle of the day, but it's important to eat lunch! While bosses and workers have always had some concept of the idea of workflow — the series or pattern of steps from the beginning of a work project to the end — this term didn't emerge until the mid-20th century. Originally, workflow was used to describe the process of manufacturing and factory work, while today it's often used in the context of office work. Do you have a routine process for completing homework assignments? Then that's your workflow.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

workflow workflows

Gartner expects the cost of a single agentic workflow to rise more than fivefold through 2028.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026

Employees should have an open and clear line of communication about what actions will improve workflow and productivity, without making any assumption about perception of competency.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026

AI infrastructure provides the common data, models, governance and architecture; workflow redesign is where those capabilities become economically useful.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

In less-flashy fields—data extraction, research, workflow automation, data-pattern summarization, customer service—AI is making a difference.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026

ServiceNow was founded as Glidesoft in 2003 by Fred Luddy as a cloud-based software company that manages business workflow systems for HR, IT and customer service operations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026

The company is now rethinking traditional organizational structures and roles, he reports, and using AI to design end-to-end workflows across its organizations, from software engineering to sales.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026

The companies said Wednesday that their collaboration aims to address key challenges in the drug-discovery process by developing targeted solutions and workflows.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

That’s a concern for investors, because a negative change in the value of the platform could impact customers’ willingness to pay for Salesforce’s data and workflows.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 11, 2026

Run a few of those workflows at once and the machine never goes quiet, especially before a deadline.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026

The three that matter most are proprietary data, redesigned workflows and organizational capabilities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026