Before I build any automation across my companies, I run every idea through three questions. Saves me from building stuff that looks cool and does nothing.
1. How often does this actually happen? If it's once a month, automating it is usually a waste. The boring daily and weekly tasks are where the real time savings hide. Frequency first, always.
2. What does it cost me when it goes wrong? Some tasks you want fully automated. Others you want AI to draft and a human to approve. The higher the cost of a mistake, the more I keep a person in the loop. Don't automate the step that gets you sued.
3. Do I actually understand the manual version? If I can't explain the task step by step myself, I've got no business automating it. You can't automate a mess you don't understand. You'll just get a faster mess.
That's it. Frequency, risk, understanding. If an idea clears all three, I build it. If it doesn't, I leave it alone, no matter how cool the demo looked.
What's your filter for deciding what's worth automating? 👇