Guide · Checklist
Which tasks can you automate in your business?
Repeated tasks with understandable rules and observable results can be good candidates for a first automation. Use these five questions to assess one process in your business and see which steps could be supported and which decisions should stay with you.
Clarifying a process can itself make daily work easier to understand. You don't need perfect answers to the whole checklist; the unclear points can be where our work together starts.
A five-question checklist
| Question | What to look for | First step if unclear |
|---|---|---|
| How often does this task repeat? | A similar step occurs regularly; time or effort can be recorded. | Note a few real examples and the effort involved. |
| Are the start and completion conditions clear? | Required starting information and the completion condition are defined. | Describe the process and its exceptions. |
| Is the required data accessible and usable? | Information is sufficient, consistent and in permitted tools. | Address gaps and access limits; don't start by collecting more data. |
| What happens if something goes wrong? | A correction and stopping route can be defined. | Keep the critical step under human control. |
| Which decisions must stay with a person? | Pricing, commitments and important exceptions are clearly separated. | Clarify authority and approval boundaries. |
This is a starting tool for considering the whole process, not a scientific score or an automatic decision for every “yes”.
Assess two examples
Routing an enquiry record to the right owner
If required fields and ownership rules are clear, a rules-based workflow may fit. Missing information returns the record to human review; permission to transfer data must also be checked.
Proposing a price and scope for a special request
This involves interpretation, a commercial decision and a commitment. Record preparation or drafting can be supported; automatically issuing the final proposal is not the natural outcome of this assessment. An authorised person decides.
When simplification is better than automation
Automatically producing a report nobody uses keeps unnecessary work alive. If the same information must be entered into three lists, first ask why the lists are separate. For an occasional task, setup and maintenance effort may outweigh the benefit. Where rules change frequently, understanding the process may be the more valuable first step.
Choose one task for the first trial.
Define the process owner, starting examples, human approvals and a way to stop. Record manual handoffs, open steps or effort in the current process. A comparison needs a baseline; don't treat an estimated gain as a measured result.
Let's assess your chosen process together.
You don't need to work out the first step alone. Share the task and the questions still open; let's find a practical starting point together.