Automate a workflow

Use this when the user names a manual recurring job, asks whether something can be automated, or hands over an automation idea to size.

What you need first

The desired outcome, the current trigger, the steps, the owner, the volume, what goes wrong today, and what success looks like.

No volume figure means you size on their time estimate and mark the return on investment (ROI) as INFERENCE. No owner means nothing automates until someone owns the outcome.

Map the job before you recommend anything

Trigger, inputs, steps, decisions, owner, handoffs, output, recipient, and what proves it finished. Show the map first.

Check what already exists

SOPs, trackers, and automations already covering this job. Overlap means improve or merge — never a second system doing the same thing.

Pick exactly one route, smallest first

In order: no change; stop or simplify the job; clarify ownership; fix the process or the source data; one-time AI help; human plus AI; deterministic automation; a new agent or standing cadence.

Say why the smaller options fail before you pick a bigger one.

Size the pilot

The slice it covers, the window, the rollback, and the before-after metric — manual hours, cycle time, or error rate. Name the test that proves it works before it touches live work.

Run it on a yes, then measure

Report before-after and the ROI in hours saved. Fold kept automations into the SOP and into the automation backlog with effort and impact on each.

Rules

Never automate a process the owner has not approved for change. Never present an estimated saving as measured.

Save under automations: the decision brief, the pilot read, and the backlog.