Automate WiselyAutomation Shortlist
Score each manual task on a few factors and automate from the top of the list.
Teams usually automate whatever annoyed someone most recently, not what would save the most. A simple scoring sheet compares tasks on the same terms, so the first automation you build is one that pays back and keeps working.
How to use it
- List repetitive manual tasks, from your Process Inventory or a week of people noting what they repeat.
- Score each from 1 to 5 on four factors: how often it runs, how long it takes each time, how error-prone it is by hand, and how stable the steps are.
- Multiply or add the scores, and sort.
- Strike out any task whose steps change every month. Those are not ready.
- Take the top one or two into a closer look before building anything.
Example
A hypothetical school office scores twelve tasks. Weekly attendance letters score highest: frequent, slow, error-prone and the same every week. Timetable changes score high on time but low on stability, so they wait.
Watch out
- Skipping the stability score. Automating a moving target means rebuilding it every month.
- Counting only time. Error-prone tasks often matter more than slow ones.
Before building, simplify with Fix Before You Automate and test the sums with a Payback Check.