A list of questions and checks to help you see if you should automate a process or not.

I've had a lot of people asking for this.

This is just what I use.

1st half are open-ended questions for exploration
2nd half are rankings for prioritization.

Hope this helps you!

1. Do I understand what I am automating?

Often times we think we are automating a process, but instead, we may be automating a destructive pattern.

Do it manually for a few weeks.

Dont perpetuate bad actions.

Go through the learning as a person, automate what you learned.

Example:

If you are filtering people for hire, and you automate right off the bat, you may automate based on the wrong criteria.

Its better to filter manually, do some calls, have some interviews, and adjust the process a bit until you are automating the right thing.

2. What do I gain?

Automating, just to automate is not useful. It just creates another system to maintain without any upside.

Each automation adds to the complexity of your business process. As complexity increases, so does areas for breakage and unintended consequences.

3. What do I lose?

Every automation results in loss.

Proximity to the process.

You may miss a "regime shift" as things change.

You may lose closeness to your customers and personal interaction.

You miss an understanding of your operation as it grows or changes.