ESG TASK WORKFLOW ARCHITECTURE
Company: Workiva
Project: Re-architected the incomplete V1 task system—decoupling workflow and data logic, defining core behaviors, and establishing a coherent mental model used across the ESG platform.
Impact: ~90% reduction in task-related support volume, improved ease-of-use, and increased user confidence in high-stakes reporting workflows.
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Strategic Challenge
The legacy Task Management workflow forced users to manage both underlying data (Values) and workflow actions (Tasks) within a single, overloaded interface — the “Metric View.” This coupling created confusion, unpredictable behavior, and frequent mistakes during time-sensitive reporting cycles. As a result, users struggled to understand how tasks were generated or why certain actions affected their data, driving a high volume of support calls and making the system costly and frustrating to use.
The goal was clear: decouple workflow logic from data management and establish a coherent, predictable experience that users could understand, trust, and complete efficiently.
Staff Leadership & Cross-functional Influence
I wasn’t executing a single feature — I led a systemic re-architecture that addressed the root cause of the problem.
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Partnered with Product and Engineering to shift the approach from a UI refresh to a structural fix, aligning everyone on the need to decouple workflow logic from data.
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Coordinated across overlapping projects to ensure changes remained coherent with the broader platform and didn’t break dependent workflows.
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Sequenced design work around the larger Multidimensionality initiative, maintaining consistency and clarity even as the backend evolved in parallel.
Systemic Architecture & Foundational Frameworks
The solution was to decouple the workflow from the data, creating two dedicated, purpose-built views:
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Values View: Focused solely on managing and auditing underlying data.
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Tasks View: Focused entirely on workflow, bulk actions, and team management.
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This separation established clear mental models for both domains, reduced cognitive load, and made higher-volume operations (like bulk actions) significantly more efficient and predictable.
The Focused Values View. This view is now dedicated to data inputs and auditing (e.g., 'Add values', 'Edit value'), minimizing cognitive load for data owners.
The Focused Tasks View. This view is dedicated to workflow management (e.g., 'Manage task', 'Send', 'Complete'). This structural separation enabled efficient bulk actions and eliminated ambiguity.
The legacy experience was limited and confusing, forcing users into a confusing and ineffective workflow.
Legacy vs. New Experience
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Old Metric View: Users had to manage Tasks, Approvals, and Metric Values in a single, cramped interface. Workflow logic and data entry were intermixed, causing mistakes, unclear system behavior, and a high volume of support calls.
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New Create Task View: Workflow is now isolated and predictable. Users assign tasks, approvers, and due dates without worrying about data entry. All value inputs moved to the dedicated Values View, making each part of the experience clearer and easier to reason about.
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Result: This architectural decoupling eliminated confusion, improved efficiency, and directly contributed to a ~90% drop in task-related support calls.
New Create Task View
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Architectural Pivot: Decoupled workflow logic from data management, establishing separate, focused mental models for each.
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Result: The Create Task dialog now handles workflow only — assignment fields (Assignee, Approver, Due Date) are clearly separated from any value selection or data entry.
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Systemic Coherence: Moving all data input to the dedicated Values View eliminated ambiguity, made workflows more predictable, and enabled efficient bulk actions — directly contributing to the ~90% drop in task-related support calls.
The new Create Task dialog is dedicated solely to assignment and adding values workflow.
Strategic Impact & Forward Planning
The architectural re-architecture resulted in a ~90% reduction in task-related support calls. This improvement came from eliminating the high-friction legacy experience (right), where users were forced to manage Task Assignment, Approvals, and Metric Value input in a single, overloaded interface.
By decoupling workflow from data and introducing a clear, predictable foundation, the new model removed systemic ambiguity and transformed a major operational burden into an efficient, scalable workflow.
This redesign didn’t just solve an immediate usability issue — it established the foundational architecture required for future capabilities, including bulk task creation, workflow automation, and the eventual deprecation of complex scripts.
It demonstrates the ability to diagnose systemic flaws, drive cross-team alignment, and deliver measurable business and user impact — the core of Staff-level design leadership in complex, data-driven environments.