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POWhy use Windows Workflow?
 

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    <p>What is the benefit of using Windows Workflow foundation (WF) versus rolling your own workflow framework?</p> <p>From what I can tell, WF only provides a pretty bare-bones runtime engine, a bunch of classes, and a schema (XAML-based) for defining workflows. All the hard stuff such as persistence, providing a host process for the runtime, and implementing distributed workflows (across processes) is left up to you.</p> <p>Plus there is a learning curve to using WF... if we created our own workflow framework we would simply leverage skills that all developers already have (C#, XML, SQL, etc).</p> <p>I saw this blog from an MS evangelist which tries to explain why we should use WF:</p> <p><a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/jamescon/archive/2005/09/22/472702.aspx" rel="noreferrer">Why Workflow?...</a></p> <p>IMO it doesn't do a good job of convincing because it just states that it helps "developer productivity", while admitting that developers could roll their own.</p> <p>Can any of the smart folks here come up with a better reason?</p> <p><strong>SUMMARY FROM ANSWERS GIVEN BELOW:</strong></p> <hr> <p>I think the most convincing reason is that using a standardized workflow platform such as WF (versus rolling your own) will allow you to leverage current and future tooling such as the Visual Designer, provided by MS and third parties.</p> <p>Also because it is part of the MS stack of .NET based technologies, it will likely have better integration/migration path with future MS technologies (such as Azure).</p> <p>Finally, the number of developers with WF experience will increase (as it will benefit them career-wise), turning it into a basic commodity skill such as SQL or HTML, meaning it will become easier to find people who can start working with it with minimal ramp up time.</p>
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    1. COSee this thread, it might help: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/435878/did-you-successfully-adopt-windows-workflow-in-a-real-world-web-application/442806#442806
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