// L03 — Workflow & Production

Workfront Workflow Transformation

Realistic timelines, faster work, fewer rush jobs.

OrganizationElevance Health / Carelon

RoleWorkflow / production lead

PlatformWorkfront

Volume~75+ projects monthly

Timeline2025

Scroll / Case study

Workfront Workflow Transformation — cover

// The brief

A high-volume creative operation needed a more reliable way to route work: clearer intake, better prioritization, smoother reviews and approvals, and reporting leadership could trust. I helped shape how that ran in Workfront.

// The challenge

The legacy instance — “Single Spine,” the consolidation of five separate Workfront systems into one — drew constant complaints from writers, designers, project managers, and requesters. Phase timing was the core issue: on paper, the timeline for each task ran so long that PMs and requesters balked the moment they saw it, and rushed, haphazard jobs filled the gap. Work sat buried under numeric job codes and nested folders, and the process no longer matched how creative actually worked.

An enterprise environment with many stakeholders and a platform in daily use — the migration had to land without stopping the work. A large cross-functional effort with many people involved; I led the creative side through both the legacy instance and the rebuild.

// The work

Process model change — from independent planning and development to coordinated planning and development — The transformation in one frame: from an “attack and fend for self” model, where every team planned independently, to coordinated planning against shared resources.

Single Spine file management — deeply nested folders under numeric job codes — What we were actually fixing: work buried under numeric job codes and nested folders, replaced by phases with real durations, ready-to-start flags, and named reviewers at each stage.

Workfront Restart — a task template with per-phase durations, ready-to-start flags, and staged reviewers — What we were actually fixing: work buried under numeric job codes and nested folders, replaced by phases with real durations, ready-to-start flags, and named reviewers at each stage.

The six-phase creative process — portfolio planning through reporting and optimization — The spine of it — six phases from portfolio planning to reporting, with creative carrying a role in almost every one. Redrawing where creative actually belonged is what made the timelines honest.

Process and system enablers — marketing map, standard operating procedures, and microlearning videos, beside an end-to-end workflow map with per-role hours — A new instance is only half of it. The end-to-end marketing map put every phase, duration, and role in one view — down to the hours each role carries — with desk-level SOPs and short microlearning videos so the process could be taught, not just published.

A live Workfront project with the designer, writer, or both assignment field called out — In the running system: a task can be pointed at a designer, a writer, or both — and review became three visible stages with named approvers instead of a thread nobody could track.

Proof workflow with three review stages and assigned reviewers — In the running system: a task can be pointed at a designer, a writer, or both — and review became three visible stages with named approvers instead of a thread nobody could track.

Training page — how to complete Workfront tasks with reviews, including the percent-complete convention tied to review stages — The rule people actually needed: percent complete tied to review stages, not to how someone felt about their progress. Tasks that start when work starts and close when it ends are what make duration data honest enough to plan against.

My Work dashboard showing tasks ready to start and outstanding proofs — The everyday surface: one place to see what's ready to start, templates carrying real durations and planned hours, and a staged launch the team could track — MVP in January, full launch in April.

A creative development template with phases, durations, and planned hours — The everyday surface: one place to see what's ready to start, templates carrying real durations and planned hours, and a staged launch the team could track — MVP in January, full launch in April.

Restart milestones and Q3 planning work on a timeline, beside a list of the challenges still ahead — Run as a change program, not a software install: business process mapping, technical build, user testing, training, and a communications arc feeding two launches — with the hard parts named out loud rather than buried.

Internal campaign poster — Workfront That Works — Adoption is a creative problem too. “Workfront That Works” gave a systems migration something people could rally to.

// The mandate

Rather than keep patching Single Spine, stand up a new instance from scratch — “Workfront Restart” — built around every pain point the old one had exposed. Rework how creative moves through it at ~75+ projects a month: phase timelines, batching, delegation, intake, and storage, so the timeline was realistic and the work actually moved faster.

// John's role

↳Led the creative side through both instances — Single Spine and the Workfront Restart rebuild
↳Served as the point person for the creative team
↳Sat on the workgroup committee implementing the changes and reporting to leadership
↳Redrew the phase strategy for every type of tactic and deliverable — and for shared pieces
↳Reworked how work was batched, delegated to designers and writers, and shared across tasks
↳Changed intake and what it captured, server file storage, and how VPOD (Marketing Bench) materials were handled

Worked with

↳Creative team — writers and designers
↳Project managers and requesters
↳Workgroup committee and leadership

// Key decisions

Fix the phase timelines that scared everyone off

The task-by-task timeline was so long on paper that PMs and requesters balked immediately. We analyzed the overall timeline for every tactic and deliverable and drew a new phase strategy per piece type — a realistic timeline people could actually trust.

Batch, delegate, and share tasks

Reworked how work was grouped and handed to designers and writers, creating shared tasks where it made sense, to cut duplicated effort and speed the whole workflow.

Restart rather than keep patching

Single Spine had consolidated five Workfront systems into one, but the problems ran deeper than configuration. We captured every pain point across intake, management, and execution, then stood up a new instance from scratch built around them — a restart rather than another round of fixes on a foundation nobody trusted.

Change everything the workflow touched

Not just the phases — intake and what it captured, how files were stored on the server, and how variable print-on-demand materials were handled, so the efficiency held end to end.

// The outcome

↳Faster speed to market and time savings the business felt and appreciated
↳Fewer haphazard 'rush' jobs coming through the queue
↳A realistic timeline PMs and requesters would actually trust
↳Shipped as a staged launch — MVP in January 2026, full launch that April

// Reflection

What it taught me: the best process fixes come from the people doing the work. Our team banded together to name every pain point across intake, management, and execution, then broke the process down and rebuilt it — improving it tremendously. With Workfront redesigned and relaunched, the team is working far more efficiently and communicating more effectively. Make the system honest and the work and the people both move better.

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