Getting started with automating manual work
It comes up on almost every project, usually later than it should. A short on-ramp to automating manual work for teams who have not touched it before.
Strategy work is mostly deciding what not to do, and writing it down so it stays decided. It is the sort of thing that looks like polish right up until it costs you an enquiry.
Why it matters
Automate the boring and repeatable, not the judgement calls. That sounds obvious written down. It is still the thing most often skipped. It rarely shows up as a line item, which is exactly why it slips.
Your first week
- Find out what is already in place
- Document the process before you automate it
- Change one thing and measure it
Half-automated processes can be worse than manual ones. None of that requires a large budget, only a decision and someone to own it. It is worth deciding this deliberately rather than inheriting whatever the last person set up.
In practice
Clear scope protects the client at least as much as it protects the agency. Three things worth confirming about automating manual work before you move on:
- Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
- Half-automated processes can be worse than manual ones — and you know whether that is true here
- There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped
If you want a second opinion on how yours is set up, ask.