Customer and workflow research
Decide how the target workflow actually runs and where an AI product could fit
A product concept depends on assumptions about how a task is performed that nobody has checked. The decision is how the target workflow actually runs and where an AI product could fit. The work starts from the steps, the decisions, the inputs people gather informally and the consequences of each type of error and ends with a workflow model with observed decision points, exceptions and candidate intervention points. It is most relevant to product managers and designers grounding an AI product in real work. A useful result states what was examined, what remains uncertain and which decision the evidence can support.
Decide how the target workflow actually runs and where an AI product could fit
- Observed step
- The starting condition this work depends on.
- Decision point
- Where the consequence actually arises.
- Intervention point
- The finding and its open dependencies.
Decision
Frame the decision before scoping the work
Questions and the evidence each one needs
- Observed step
- Inspect access to practitioners and their managers.
- Decision point
- Inspect the documented process, where one exists.
- Intervention point
- Inspect system records showing how the work actually flows.
The decision is how the target workflow actually runs and where an AI product could fit. This matters to product managers and designers grounding an AI product in real work when a product concept depends on assumptions about how a task is performed that nobody has checked. Name the affected proposition, the consequence of a wrong decision and the owner who can act. The opening conversation should establish which evidence already exists and which uncertainty is material enough to investigate.
The specific failure hypothesis is that the documented process omits the judgement step where the practitioner’s real expertise is applied. It stays a hypothesis until it is examined in your own case. Existing research notes, usage data or customer records may already resolve it, so identify the uncovered question before commissioning further work.
Mechanism
Follow the relationship that carries the consequence
Where the boundary is actually crossed
- Observed step
- The condition the design assumes.
- Decision point
- Where authority or information changes hands.
- Intervention point
- The effect the owner must answer for.
What this specialty examines
Customer and workflow research rests on the steps, the decisions, the inputs people gather informally and the consequences of each type of error. Work from what people actually did and said rather than from the plan’s description of them, and record where the two differ.
The examination draws on access to practitioners and their managers; the documented process, where one exists; and system records showing how the work actually flows. Identify the owner, revision and operating context of each source. Keep an incomplete input visible, with an explanation of what its absence prevents the owner from concluding, rather than quietly treating a gap as a satisfactory result.
The tradeoff to make explicit
The tradeoff here is automating the volume of routine cases against handling the exceptions that carry the cost. Compare the available options against the same intended outcome. If one option removes a control or moves a boundary, describe that difference before treating its lower effort as an improvement. The decision should expose the tradeoff rather than bury it in a single rating.
Preparation
Connect the inputs to the boundary examined
Preparation record for the engagement
Illustrative working format
- Access to practitioners and their managers
- Bounds the context.
- The documented process, where one exists
- Supplies the material examined.
- System records showing how the work actually flows
- Exposes conditions that qualify a result.
Start with access to practitioners and their managers; the documented process, where one exists; and system records showing how the work actually flows. Each has a different job: the first establishes context, the second supplies the material to examine, and the third exposes operating conditions that may qualify a conclusion. Sanitised examples can support early work, provided the differences from the real configuration stay explicit.
The scope also needs product managers and designers grounding an AI product in real work with the authority to reach the relevant participants, and agreement on what evidence would distinguish the failure in which the documented process omits the judgement step where the practitioner’s real expertise is applied from acceptable behaviour. Where stakeholders disagree about intended behaviour, resolve that interpretation before classifying an observed difference as a defect.
Working sequence
Carry the question through to an accountable finding
From scoped material to a decision record
- Recruit and prepare
Set the conditions assumed.
- Study the work
Apply the scoped check.
- Model the workflow
Record evidence and the next decision.
Recruit and prepare
Select participants across experience levels and sites, agree consent and handling, and prepare a protocol that observes rather than leads. Record what is deliberately excluded.
Study the work
Walk through real cases, recording steps, tools, informal inputs, decision points, exceptions and the time each consumes. Keep an unreproducible observation in the record with its reason.
Model the workflow
Produce a workflow model that shows where judgement, verification and accountability sit, and where an AI step would need oversight. Hand the result over with its open dependencies attached.
Indicative artefact
Make the artefact usable by the person who owns the decision
A workflow model with observed decision points, exceptions and candidate intervention points
Illustrative working format
- Participant selection and research protocol
- What was examined, and under which assumptions.
- Observed steps, exceptions and informal inputs
- Each observation, linked to evidence.
- Candidate intervention points with oversight requirements
- The next decision, and its limits.
The proposed decision artefact is a workflow model with observed decision points, exceptions and candidate intervention points. Depending on the agreed scope, the pack may include:
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Participant selection and research protocol. Basis: the definitions, boundaries and assumptions another reviewer would need.
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Observed steps, exceptions and informal inputs. Observation: the findings and their interpretation, preserving adverse results and disagreement.
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Candidate intervention points with oversight requirements. Decision: what the owner could do next, and what change would justify revisiting it.
Retain the selection rationale beside the result. Without it, a bounded finding is easily mistaken for complete coverage.
Illustrative scenario
Examine the question through a constructed case
A constructed case and its decision paths
Illustrative scenario
- Observed step
A documented three-step approval turns out to involve a phone call that resolves most ambiguous cases.
- Decision point
What information does that call surface, and could any product step replace or support it?
- Intervention point
Design around the call rather than around the documented process.
Consider an illustrative situation: a documented three-step approval turns out to involve a phone call that resolves most ambiguous cases. The example is constructed to show how the question is framed. No client engagement, executed test or measured improvement is implied.
The question to examine is what information does that call surface, and could any product step replace or support it. A reasonable next action would be to design around the call rather than around the documented process. The decision record should state which configuration was accepted and which limitations came with it.
Scope and next action
Keep the conclusion inside the agreed boundary
Confirm fit before the next commitment
- Observed step
- Limited to the agreed scope and sample.
- Access to practitioners and their managers
- The owner confirms access and conditions.
- Intervention point
- Workflow research describes the cases and participants observed. It does not establish how the whole population works.
Workflow research describes the cases and participants observed. It does not establish how the whole population works. Any engagement depends on an agreed scope, a qualified team and authorised access.
Bring the proposition, the decision you face and the evidence you already hold. The scope question follows from the situation in which a product concept depends on assumptions about how a task is performed that nobody has checked. Confirm which missing observation would change the owner’s next action.