The decomposition rule of thumb: The actual number of steps in a workflow is 3-4x higher than what someone will describe from memory. If a teammate says their process has 3 steps, expect 10-12.
How to decompose a recurring task:
Why the ratio matters: In most marketing workflows, roughly 80% of time goes to lights-on work and 20% to judgment work. The goal of a marketing engineer is to make the lights-on steps invisible so the team's energy goes to judgment work first, not last.
Designing for human-in-the-loop: Not every step should be automated. When you map your system, flag the judgment steps explicitly. These become the points where a human reviews, decides, or edits before the system continues.
If you have fewer than five steps, you're in the brochure version. Break it down further.
The decomposition rule of thumb: The actual number of steps in a workflow is 3-4x higher than what someone will describe from memory. If a teammate says their process has 3 steps, expect 10-12.
How to decompose a recurring task:
Why the ratio matters: In most marketing workflows, roughly 80% of time goes to lights-on work and 20% to judgment work. The goal of a marketing engineer is to make the lights-on steps invisible so the team's energy goes to judgment work first, not last.
Designing for human-in-the-loop: Not every step should be automated. When you map your system, flag the judgment steps explicitly. These become the points where a human reviews, decides, or edits before the system continues.
If you have fewer than five steps, you're in the brochure version. Break it down further.
