Document processes before automating

The biggest mistake in automation is jumping straight to building workflows without understanding what you're actually doing manually. You end up automating the wrong things, or automating broken processes that should be fixed first.

The systematic approach: document your current manual processes in detail, identify truly repetitive tasks (happens the same way every time), calculate time savings to prioritise automation opportunities, and fix inefficient processes before automating them.

This chapter shows you how to map processes visually, spot automation opportunities, calculate ROI on automation time investment, and clean up processes before automating them.

Start by listing every repetitive task you do weekly or more frequently. Don't try to automate everything at once. Focus on tasks that happen the same way every time.

Good automation candidates: New lead comes in → check if company size matches ICP → if yes, assign to sales rep → send welcome email → create task for follow-up call. This happens identically for every lead. The logic is consistent, the steps are repeatable.

Bad automation candidates: Prospect responds to outreach → read their response → craft personalised reply based on their specific concerns → send reply. This requires judgement and customisation every time. Don't automate this.

For each process, document: trigger (what starts the process), steps (what happens in order), decisions (if X then Y, if Z then A), and output (what's the end result). Use simple flowchart format or numbered list.

Example process map for lead assignment: Trigger: form submission on website. Step 1: Extract company name and size from form. Step 2: Check if company size is 100-1,000 employees (ICP match). Decision: If yes, continue. If no, send to nurture queue. Step 3: Check if company is in finance or healthcare industry (priority sectors). Decision: If yes, assign to senior rep. If no, assign to standard rep. Step 4: Create contact record in CRM. Step 5: Send assignment notification to rep. Step 6: Send welcome email to lead. Step 7: Create follow-up task for rep (due in 2 hours). Output: Lead assigned, welcomed, task created.

That's 7 steps with 2 decision points. Takes 5 minutes manually per lead. If you get 200 leads/month, that's 1,000 minutes (16.7 hours) spent on repetitive assignment.

Not everything that repeats is worth automating. Some tasks repeat but with variation that requires human judgement. Automation works when the logic is consistent.

Test for automation readiness: Can you write a complete if/then rule set that covers 90%+ of cases? If yes, automate. If no, keep manual or partially automate (automate the routine parts, human handles exceptions).

Example: Lead scoring. If you score leads based on company size + industry + page visits + form completions, you can write complete rules. This is automatable. But if lead scoring also considers judgement calls, that part stays manual.

Frequency matters: A task that takes 30 minutes but happens once per quarter probably isn't worth automating. A task that takes 2 minutes but happens 50 times per day (100 minutes daily) absolutely is worth automating.

Create an opportunity matrix: rows are tasks, columns are frequency and time per occurrence. Calculate total time spent. Sort by total time. Top candidates are high-frequency or high-time tasks.

Building automation takes time. Make sure the time saved justifies the time invested.

ROI formula: (Time saved per month - Maintenance time) / Build time = Months to payback. If under 3 months, automate immediately. If 3-12 months, automate when you have capacity. If over 12 months, probably not worth it.

Example: Lead assignment automation. Current time: 1,000 minutes/month. Build time: 8 hours. Maintenance: 30 min/month. Time saved: 970 min/month (16.2 hours). Payback: 8 hours / 16.2 hours per month = 0.5 months. Build immediately.

Don't forget maintenance time. Automations break when systems update or rules change. Budget 10-20% of build time as ongoing monthly maintenance.

Automating a broken process just makes you do the wrong thing faster. Fix the process first, then automate.

Common process problems: unnecessary steps, poor sequencing, excessive handoffs, missing validation.

Example: Lead assignment includes manager approval that adds 4 hours delay. Fix: Check rep capacity automatically. Eliminate manager approval. Now automate the efficient 6-step process, not the inefficient 8-step one.

Process cleanup checklist: (1) Remove steps with no current purpose. (2) Reorder steps to eliminate backtracking. (3) Combine steps that always happen together. (4) Add validation where errors occur. (5) Eliminate unnecessary approvals. (6) Standardise data entry formats.

After cleanup, re-time the process. You may save significant time just through cleanup, before automating anything.

Document your manual processes completely before automating. Map trigger, steps, decisions, output. Identify truly repetitive tasks versus those requiring judgement.

Calculate ROI: time saved monthly divided by build time. Automate if payback under 3 months. Consider carefully if 3-12 months. Skip if over 12 months unless strategic.

Fix broken processes first. Remove unnecessary steps, eliminate delays, add validation. Automating a bad process makes you do the wrong thing faster.

Next chapter: understand workflow structure.