Short workflows are easier to fix later

A short workflow, with only a handful of steps, is far easier to fix six months from now than a long one with steps piled on top of steps. Length isn't a sign of sophistication — it's usually a sign that a workflow has quietly grown past what it was meant to do.

Every added step is one more place something can break, and one more thing you have to reread before you trust a change won't ripple somewhere unexpected. I've learned to treat that reread as a warning bell. Short workflows also make it obvious when something no longer belongs, because there's nowhere to hide an outdated step among a dozen others. When a workflow starts feeling long, that's usually the moment to split it rather than keep stacking steps onto it.

Treat length as a warning sign worth checking, not a badge of a thorough setup.

Try this today: count the steps in your longest workflow and ask which ones could be removed or moved into a separate workflow.