Interactive guide
Carry the Work Across Teams and Tools
A workflow inside one system is a workflow you can reason about. The moment it crosses into a second one, three things become true that were not true before, and none of them is obvious.
The other system does not share your definitions, so every invariant you care about has to be enforced on your side or not at all. The two will drift, because both are being changed by people, which makes drift the normal condition rather than an incident. And your correct-looking repair can destroy state you did not know existed. You will build a Cross-System Workflow Map and Operating Plan. The lab saves your progress in your browser.
Start with a broken answer
Map the Teams and Systems
Chapter 1 of 8 · 12 min
The learning path
The order here is not a preference. You cannot write a handoff contract until you know which system owns the fact being handed over, and you cannot repair a disagreement until you can see one. Every chapter assumes the one before it is already done.
The map and the machinery
- 01Map the Teams and SystemsName every system and team, give each an owner, and say which system is right when they disagree.12 min · exercise
- 02Define What Each Handoff CarriesWrite the six things every boundary crossing carries, and derive routing rather than maintaining it.14 min · exercise
- 03Track Waiting, Running, Completed, and FailedMake every state independently visible, and log the job as well as the record.12 min · exercise
- 04Handle Temporary and Permanent FailuresSend each failure to the destination that can act on it, and make sure that destination exists.14 min · exercise
Staying correct, and closing the loop
- 05Reconcile Systems That DisagreeDesign a repair loop you can preview before it runs and measure after.16 min · exercise
- 06Notify and Escalate to the Right OwnerGive every alert an owner and a remediation, and watch the two numbers everybody ignores.12 min · exercise
- 07Confirm the Business OutcomeClose the loop back to the workflow specification, and learn the build order.12 min · exercise
- 08Capstone: Follow One Record End to EndTrace one record across every boundary as the person on call, validate the plan, and approve version 1.0.16 min · exercise