The automation that pays for itself in a month
Not every process is worth automating. There is a simple way to tell which ones are, before you spend a euro.
The instinct with automation is to start with the most annoying task. That is usually the wrong one. The right one is the most repetitive, which is not the same thing.
The arithmetic nobody does
Take a task. Multiply how long it takes by how many times a month it happens. That is the monthly cost in hours. If automating it takes fewer hours than it saves in three months, do it. If not, leave it alone.
A task that takes 40 minutes but happens twice a year is not worth automating. A task that takes 90 seconds but happens 200 times a month absolutely is — that is five hours a month, disappearing invisibly.
The processes worth automating are rarely the ones people complain about. They are the small ones nobody notices, repeated until they add up to a salary.
Where the hours usually hide
Copying data between two systems that do not talk. Sending the same message with three words changed. Building the same report every Monday. Downloading a file, renaming it and uploading it somewhere else. Checking whether something arrived.
Start with the boring one
The first automation should be small, boring and impossible to break anything. It builds trust in the approach and gives you a real measurement of how much time it saves. The ambitious one comes second.
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