Choose one task worth improving.
The most frequent task is not always the best first automation. Choose something repeated enough to matter, clear enough to describe and limited enough that a mistake can be caught and corrected.
Write down the whole task.
Choose a beginning and an end: “an enquiry arrives” to “the owner knows the next action”. Include preparation, checking, corrections and handoffs. Measuring only the time spent clicking a button can hide most of the work.
- Frequency
- How often did this task actually happen in a recent ordinary week?
- Effort
- How long do preparation, completion and checking take together?
- Exceptions
- What changes the normal path, and how often does that happen?
- Consequence
- What would a wrong, late or duplicate result affect?
- Owner
- Who will check the result and maintain the process?
Compare two ordinary candidates.
Illustrative comparison: Task A is copying a confirmed enquiry into a shared list 20 times a week, taking three minutes each time. Task B is deciding the final price of an unusual job twice a week, taking 20 minutes each time.
Task A represents about an hour of weekly handling before checks and exceptions. Task B takes less total time here, but involves judgment and a consequential commitment. A draft or checklist may help Task B; that does not make an automatic decision appropriate.
Subtract the work the new process creates.
A connection still needs setup, review, corrections and maintenance. If checking each result takes nearly as long as doing the task manually, the time case may be weak. There can still be a clarity or consistency benefit, but name it separately.
Use your own observations rather than the illustrative numbers above. Do not turn a single quick run into an annual savings claim.
Choose the smallest useful trial.
Use a few representative examples with confidential information removed. Test the ordinary case, missing information, a duplicate and a failed connection. Keep any customer message or irreversible action under review.
Define success in words before selecting a tool: the correct record reaches the correct person once, with a clear next action. If a simple rule or a shared checklist does that, the trial may not need AI.
Make a decision you can revisit.
Proceed when the result is useful, the mistakes are visible and someone can own the process. Simplify when most effort is spent handling exceptions. Stop when the task is too rare or the consequence of error cannot be managed within the scope.
The workflow map below gives you a place to capture the task, its owner and the test. You can use it without booking a consultation.
