Keep steps in the order a person would do them

When you're building a workflow, follow the same order a person would naturally do the task by hand, even if the tool would technically let you rearrange things. Order matters more than it seems, especially when one step depends on information the last one produced.

It's tempting to reorder steps for a cleaner-looking setup, but that can quietly break things — sending a confirmation before the record it references is actually saved, for example. I've made that mistake myself chasing a tidier-looking build. Sticking to the natural order also makes the workflow far easier for another person to follow later, because it matches the mental model they already have of how the task works. When in doubt, walk through the task by hand one more time and copy that exact order into your build.

A workflow that mirrors real life is easier to trust and easier to fix.

Try this today: check one workflow against the natural order a person would do the task and fix any step that's out of place.