A workflow did not run
Read the three blocks out loud first. Most workflow bugs are visible in the definition rather than hidden in a log.
The advantage of workflows being three readable blocks is that debugging them rarely requires a log. Read the definition aloud and, in most cases, the problem is obvious — usually a condition that is narrower than the person who wrote it remembers.
Start with the Live toggle, then the condition. Those two are the answer most of the time.
Steps
Check the Live toggle
Workflows do not run when paused. Somebody turning one off during an incident and never back on is extremely common, and nothing announces it.
Read the "only if" block
The condition is usually narrower than you remember. A workflow limited to one channel, or to inside business hours, will look completely broken when tested from outside those bounds.
Check the trigger matches what actually happened
"A chat goes 30 minutes without a reply" does not fire for a chat answered in five minutes. Triggers are specific, and near-misses do not count.
Check the run count
Each workflow shows how many times it ran this week. A workflow that used to run 50 times and now runs twice has probably broken upstream rather than in itself.
Check the owner's notifications
Failures are reported to the workflow owner. If that person has been deactivated, failures have been going nowhere — possibly for weeks.
Check your automation allowance
Actions are counted per step. If the allowance is exhausted, workflows stop.
Check for a time-hold
A workflow with a hold has not failed — it is waiting. Look before concluding anything.
Check what the steps depend on
A deleted attribute, a renamed dropdown choice, a disconnected channel or a rejected template will each break a step that used to work perfectly.
Check it worked
Once it is running, watch the run count for a week. If it is much higher than you expected, the condition is looser than intended and it is consuming automation actions at that rate.
The parts people get wrong
- Because the definition is three readable blocks, a colleague reading it aloud will often spot the problem faster than any log would.
- A workflow owned by somebody who has left reports its failures to nobody. Check ownership as part of offboarding.