How do you create your first flow?
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A first workflow should be small enough to complete and useful enough to be used. This guide walks you through a simple notification workflow and the steps that will ensure it still works a year from now.
- 6 steps
- Total time: 1 h
- Preparation: 20 min
- Result: A flow that runs automatically and alerts you when it fails
Required tools
- Power Automate — Access is included with the Microsoft 365 license for most users.
- A shared user — For everything that needs to remain operational. Do not use your personal account.
Build the flow
1.Choose a trigger that is narrow enough
Start with a specific event, and add filters so that the flow only runs when relevant. A flow that runs whenever any change occurs results in thousands of empty runs.
2.Do one thing
Your first flow should have two or three steps. Send a notification or create a task. Flows with twenty steps are difficult to troubleshoot, and you will need to troubleshoot.
3.Run it with test data
Trigger the flow manually and review each step in the run history. There, you can see exactly what went into and came out of each step.
Make it reliable
4.Move it to a shared user
Before the flow is put into operation, it must be owned by an account that will not disappear. This is the step most people skip, and the one that costs the most later.
5.Enable error notifications
Send the notification to a mailbox monitored by several people. A flow that fails silently is worse than no flow at all—people trust that something is happening.
6.Write down what it does
Two sentences about its purpose and owner, somewhere others can find them. A year from now, this will be the difference between a flow that can be changed and one that no one dares touch.
Discussion
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