Workflows you can re-run

A workflow is a saved instruction you invoke rather than retype. The value is not saving typing — it is that the instruction stops degrading. The version of a prompt you type on a Friday afternoon is worse than the version you refined on a Tuesday, and a saved workflow means you always get the Tuesday one.

What qualifies

Three tests, and it needs all three:

1. You do it at least fortnightly
2. The inputs change but the shape does not
3. You can describe “done” without seeing the output

A weekly update qualifies. A PRD does not — the shape changes every time, and if it does not, the PRDs are not being thought about.

Worked example: the Friday update

Produce the weekly activation update.

Read: @context/company.md, @context/rules.md, @drafts/week-notes.md,
      and the most recent file in @research/.

Structure:
  1. The number, and the direction, in one sentence.
  2. What changed, and what we believe caused it. Separate the two.
  3. What is blocked, and who has to unblock it. Name them.
  4. What I need a decision on this week. If nothing, say "nothing".

Rules: under 300 words. No adjectives in section 1. If the notes do not
support a causal claim in section 2, write "cause unclear" instead of
guessing. Do not pad section 4 to look busy.

The prohibitions carry most of the weight. “Cause unclear” instead of a guess is the difference between an update people trust and an update people skim.

Worked example: the research digest

Digest new research.

Read every file in @research/ added since the date I give you.

For each distinct theme:
  - the theme in one line
  - how many separate sources mention it
  - the single strongest verbatim quote, with its file name
  - whether it supports or contradicts @context/company.md

Order by number of sources, not by how interesting it is.
End with: themes mentioned exactly once, listed without commentary.

Never merge two themes that use different words for different things.

That last section — the once-only themes — is where the useful surprises live. Frequency ordering buries them, so ask for them separately.

Exercise

Save both as workflows in your workspace, run the update one, and then do the honest part: rewrite the instruction based on what was wrong with the output. Most workflows are worth their keep by the third revision and useless before the second.

When to stop

If you are editing the workflow every time you run it, the task is not stable and the workflow is costing you more than it saves. Delete it and go back to asking. Automating an unstable task is how people end up maintaining a machine that produces documents nobody reads.