Workflow Authorship Canvas
A canvas for redesigning a workflow rather than wrapping it in better UI.
Where does the work actually begin, before the product is opened?
What does the user already know, and what should the system know on their behalf?
Where does the user make a real choice, and where is the product asking for a choice it should learn, default, or prepare?
Where does work move between people, tools, systems, or surfaces?
What happens often enough that the system should notice the pattern?
Where does the work wait, and is the waiting intentional or accidental?
Which steps could the system safely prepare, suggest, classify, summarize, automate, or route?
Which decisions must remain visibly and meaningfully in human hands?
What it helps you see
It exposes the workflow as a system of triggers, handoffs, control points, and repeated work.
How to use it
Take a real workflow. Fill the canvas. The output is a workflow redesign canvas: the current path, the authored path, and the trust conditions required to move between them.
Use it when
Use this when a workflow in Workflow Authors Reshape the Work feels bigger than any single screen or feature improvement.
Practice prompt
Choose one real workflow and fill only the cells you can answer honestly. The blank cells are the next investigation.
Source chapter
This framework was authored in Workflow Authors Reshape the Work. Read the chapter for the full argument and the worked examples that produced this shape.