Automating a mess gives you a faster mess.
The most common automation mistake is also the most understandable: a task is annoying, a tool promises to remove it, and the tool gets switched on before anyone checks whether the task needs to exist.
The test
- Does this task need to happen at all? Many repeated tasks are leftovers from a problem that was fixed long ago.
- Is the steps-and-rules version written down? If two people do it two ways, agree one way first.
- What happens when it fails? Every automation needs an owner and a way to notice when it has stopped working.
Start with the boring one
The best first automation is rarely the clever one. It is the weekly task everyone dislikes, with clear rules and low risk if something goes wrong: sending reminders, filing documents, compiling a report.
SampleThis is a short draft. A full version will be published once the client has reviewed it.