Workflow notifications are only sent on transition.
When you create a new article in the default stage no transition takes place therefore no notification is sent
As a result the carefully designed workflow never begins as no one knows that an article exists

Steps to reproduce the issue

1. Enable workflows in the content options with Basic as the default
2. Create another super user
3. Edit all the Transitions so that notifications will be sent to Super Users
4. Create a new article and save & close
5. Edit that article and change the stage

Expected result

email sent at step 4 and at step 5

Actual result

email only sent at step 5

Step 4

Step 5

Additional comments