As a WordPress freelancer, you can often find processes for developing a theme or setting up a development server. However, our community rarely discusses how a WordPress Consultant can identify those areas of our business that need process improvement. This interactive workshop examines the steps to identifying workflow patterns and develop repeatable business processes. As a group, we will discuss how to identify and prioritize your WordPress Consulting business’ goals and objectives. We will look at how you document your current business processes, and how to identify significant variations (process gaps) in your workflow that may be affecting your productivity and profitability. Bring your specific workflow issue and we will look at ways to develop a repeatable process that will align with the organization's goals and objectives.

1. Structuring Processes and
Workflows for Your
WordPress Business
Austin WordPress Meetup
May 09, 2016
Presented By Sandi Batik & Nick Batik

2. What We’ll Cover
Processes and Workflow
• What is it?
• Why you need them
• Getting Started
• Class Exercise

3. Who is this for?
Scaling
Make the same amount
of money doing less
work
Do the same amount of
work and make more
money
Scale completely

4. What is a process?
A set of activities (steps)
that accomplish a specific task

5. What is Workflow?
Workflow is the series of processes
to accomplish a project or goal.

6. Start Now!

7. Documenting and Taking
Notes

8. How Are You Doing It Right
Now?
What’s Working?

9. How Are You Doing It Right
Now?
What’s Not?

10. The Power
of the
Checklist
Say what you are
going to do,
Then do it.

11. The Checklist
Manifesto: How
to Get Things
Right
by Atul Gawande

12. Make it Repeatable /
Transferable

13. If you die in a fiery
wreck…

14. It should
match your values
If your value is “quality”
then having a process
focused on “speed” is
not congruent

15. Make it
robust

16. Dog-fooding
Use your own service, product, and
processes

17. Keep it
Simple
No, really.
A simple process will be
followed;
a complex one will be
skipped

18. Gather
information
How well is it working?

19. Track Progress
How are customers
reacting?
employees?
team members?

20. Elicit feedback

21. Find
commonaliti
es
Develop similar Step-by-
step approach for each
process

22. Post-mortem
Review the process after
each use:
Sometime you change
Sometimes your
product / service
changes
Sometimes you learn
something new

23. Iterate
A process is only a process if you can repeat
it.

24. First Steps
Get started now:
▪ Documenting
▪ Brainstorming

25. Pay attention to pain
points
These are the best place to try a new process

26. Write down a
checklist
No, not like this…

27. Keep tracking
watch for easy thing to fix

28. Thought
experiment
If your Fairy Godmother
could take away one
frustration…
what would you ask for?
Start there.

29. Sharing and
Feedback
Ask your clients:
Did I explain my process
well?
Did I follow it?

30. Exercises

31. Presenter
Sandi Batik
WordPress evangelist, consultant, trainer,
curricula developer, author, unapologetic
geek, unrepentant capitalist, lucky enough
to do what I love everyday. I’ve served as
Austin WordPress Meetup co-organizer
since 2010. With my husband Nick Batik,
co-founded Pleiades Publishing Services
in 1992 and Hands-On WordPress
Training in 2010.
Follow me @sandi_batik / @WPATX
Contact me at: handsonwp.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hsandracheva
lierbatik

32. Presenter
Nick Batik
Started in web development in 1994 and
have been a WordPress consultant, and
web developer since 2007. A
WordPress evangelist, I’ve served as
Austin WordPress Meetup co-organizer
since 2010. With my partner, co-founded
Pleiades Publishing Services in 1992
and Hands-On WordPress Training in
2010.
Follow me @nick_batik / @WPATX
Contact me at: handsonwp.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholasbatik