Signs it is time to revisit automating manual work

The gap between knowing this and actually doing it is where most teams lose ground. A few signals that automating manual work is due some attention.

Clear scope protects the client at least as much as it protects the agency. Most teams find the first pass takes an afternoon and the maintenance takes minutes a month.

The signals

• Nobody can say when it was last reviewed
• The answer depends on who you ask
• Automate the boring and repeatable, not the judgement calls
• Document the process before you automate it

The practical version

Half-automated processes can be worse than manual ones. That sounds obvious written down. It is still the thing most often skipped. The practical test is whether someone new to the project could tell, in a minute, that it had been handled.

What this looks like day to day

The projects that go badly are rarely the ones with the hardest technical problems. 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.