Many times in our industry we talk about workflows without fully understanding the concept, or without giving it the attention it deserves. Workflows for news production, workflows for HD or workflows for live production...
The concept of workflow is not exclusive to audiovisual production. A whole discipline within industrial engineering deals with the implementation of workflows and their optimization. The WfMC (Workflow Management Coalition) defines the concept as "the automation of business processes, during which documents, information and tasks pass from one participant to another for a certain action according to a pre-established set of procedural rules".
Workflows improve the efficiency of companies, allow control in processes to ensure the quality of the final product and maximize profits thanks to cost control. Even the most novice video producer uses a workflow; the important thing is to raise awareness of this resource, examine it, challenge it and improve it continuously.
In an industry as technology-oriented as ours, it's very common to build workflows around teams. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it has its dangers. "God created the world in seven days because there was no installed base," some system integrators joke. If a workflow already exists, adopting innovations is much more complicated.
The most successful equipment and accessories on the market are those that fit into an existing workflow or those that come out with a defined and complete one and with enough force to impose their own flow. Others are left in limbo without being able to fit into the industry.
The protocols with which the devices communicate (see article by Dan Fogel), the video formats on which we work as well as the file types (we assume that we are already in a digital industry) are factors that condition us when building or modifying our flow. Before, when everything was analog, there was no major doubt about the route to follow, everything was linear.
Equipment manufacturers face a time of great uncertainty as they struggle to consolidate workflows based on their standards. This is the case of the HDV, which obtained enormous success despite the fact that the offer of essential complementary devices and equipment (such as NLE support) is still limited.
The important thing, from the point of view of the channel and the producer, is to give priority to the workflow over the product. We must adopt products that fit into the workflow that for us is the best, without being clouded by products that are apparently a wonder, but that require great sacrifices when adopting them.
