How to find the tasks worth automating

Teams usually automate the wrong thing first. They pick the task that annoys them most, not the one that costs the most. Those are rarely the same task.

Run the numbers first

For every repetitive task, write down three things: how many minutes it takes, how many times per week it happens, and how many people do it. Multiply. That is your annual cost in hours.

A five minute task done twenty times a week by three people is two hundred and sixty hours a year. That is worth automating. A two hour task done once a month is not, no matter how much everyone hates it.

What automates well

• Anything with a clear input and a predictable output
• Copying data between systems
• Formatting, sorting, or checking documents
• Routing work to the right person
• Generating reports nobody wants to write

What does not

Judgment calls. Anything where the right answer changes based on context you have not written down. Tasks that happen rarely enough that nobody remembers the rules.

The order to do it in

Start with the highest annual hour cost that also has the clearest rules. Ship it. Measure the hours you actually got back, not the hours you expected to.

Then do the next one. Teams that automate ten things at once usually end up maintaining ten things that half work.