Riddle Me This: When Does a Workflow Not Work?

It’s the question no one thinks to ask because everyone’s too busy asking the wrong one.

 “Can we just import the workflow another firm is using?”

It feels efficient, almost like a shortcut. Someone else already built it, tested it, and made it work, right? All you have to do is import it, and voilà, your firm is streamlined and systematized. How magical. Not.

But here’s the riddle: When does a workflow not work?

When it wasn’t built for you.

The moment you try to copy and paste a system from another law firm, you introduce friction into your own. What works for a three-partner firm with a full-time admin team in Chicago won’t magically work for your solo practice in Fargo. Their intake steps, delegation, deadlines, and even communication styles were built around their team, their clients, and their practice, not yours.

When the workflow inevitably falls apart or doesn’t even get off the ground because no one will use it, the software gets the blame. Suddenly the tech is “too complicated,” “not intuitive,” or “broken.” But the real villain is that copy/pasted workflow. The one that never belonged in your firm in the first place.

It’s easy to forget that efficiency isn’t universal. It’s contextual. What looks streamlined in one firm’s ecosystem can feel like chaos in another. The result is a team that’s confused, a process that’s out of sync, and a stack of expensive software tools collecting digital dust.

Importing someone else’s system is rarely the shortcut it pretends to be. It skips over the uncomfortable but necessary work of evaluating how your own firm actually operates. It avoids the strategic thinking that real workflow design requires. It completely ignores the realities of your firm’s day-to-day who’s doing what, when, how, and why.

Workflows only work when they reflect your actual practice. Not the ideal version you imagine, and definitely not the polished version someone else posted online or sold you through a blueprint. They must be shaped by your team’s strengths and constraints, your clients’ needs, and your firm’s values. Anything less is just a shiny overlay on top of disorganization.

So, the real question isn’t whether you can use another firm’s workflow. It’s whether you’re willing to step back and build your own intentionally, strategically, and with a clear understanding of what you’re trying to accomplish and build.

Don’t want to track your tasks? Can’t convince your team to track their process? Aren’t willing to consider dissecting why your firm does something? You will continue to stumble around complaining about technology, burnout, and staff.

The real shortcut isn’t found in someone else’s blueprint. It’s in building a system that actually works for you, your team, and your clients.

And that takes more than a copy/paste job.