Workflow systems have been proposed as a means for automating business procedures. While growing in popularity, many fundamental problems, such as supporting unstructured office activities, still remain before this technology will be especially useful in the office. This paper examines difficulties associated with handling unstructured office activities and argues that it is both necessary and possible for workflow technology to better support office workers who perform these activities. The approach illustrated in this paper advocates reducing the rigidity of the workflow system's computational model, which, in turn, requires the system to better support the contextual information needs of the workers performing the unstructured activities.

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