Workflows vs Services: Why, When, and How

Good technologists know that the rise of a new solution rarely means the complete obsolescence of previous tools. Workflow Engines represent a powerful new way to build software, but we need to acknowledge that “traditional” service-oriented design still has its place.

In my years building on top of the workflow engine at Better.com I became a fervent advocate for the use of workflows, but I still saw many cases where a simple service was a better solution to the problem at hand. Over time, I developed a collection of mental “tests” to help me determine where implementing a service might be better than building a workflow. In this talk we will cover:

• Why we use Workflows: What great problems and use-cases for workflows look like, vs use-cases better-suited to a traditional service.
• How to build Workflows: Best practices on how to optimize implementation time, architecture, and quality for your workflows.
• When Workflows will go mainstream: Why the business opportunities of the next decade are uniquely suited to workflow-oriented development compared to the last decade.