The process

Work out what you actually want.

“Automate all of it” is where these projects fail. The ones that work start with three tasks chosen well. Run this yourself before we speak, or before you speak to anyone. It takes about a week of light effort and most of it is noticing.

Write down every recurring task for one week

Keep a running list of everything the person who is leaving does, or everything you do that you would rather not. Write it down as it happens, not from memory. Include the things that feel too small to mention. Those are usually the best candidates.

Examples: answering "is this in stock" emails, chasing a quote sent nine days ago, typing up the notes from a site visit, building a quote from the last similar job.

For each task, note four things

What starts it (an email, a date, a phone call). Where the information comes from (the inbox, the CRM, a spreadsheet, someone's head). What gets produced (a reply, a document, a record). And who has to sign it off before it leaves the building.

If the answer to "where does the information come from" is "someone's head", that task is not ready to automate yet. Write the rule down first.

Score each task on three questions

How often does it happen (rarely, weekly, daily or more)? Could you write the rule for it on a postcard (no, mostly, yes)? And what does a mistake cost (a lot, a bit, almost nothing)? Use the worksheet below. It does the arithmetic and keeps your list on this device.

Pick the top three. Leave the rest.

The winners are frequent, rule-shaped and low-risk. Everything else waits. Three working automations in a month beat ten half-built ones in six, and the first three teach you what the next three should be.

Decide the sign-off gate for each one

Every automation starts as drafts for approval. After a month of reading the drafts you will know which ones you trust to run alone, and which you never will. That decision is yours, not the software's.

Task scoring worksheet

Saved in this browser only. Nothing is sent anywhere. Swipe sideways to see every column.

Task	How often1 rarely · 2 weekly · 3 daily	Rule on a postcard1 no · 2 mostly · 3 yes	Cost of a mistake1 a lot · 2 a bit · 3 almost none	Score
				9 Start here
				7 Start here
				5

Then bring the list.

Copy the list as text, email it to me with the subject line AUTOMATE, and we spend fifteen minutes working out whether it is worth doing at all.

Email AUTOMATE How it works, and what it costs