Choosing which workflow to automate first
The instinct is to automate the process that annoys people most, and that is usually the wrong starting point, because the most annoying process is often the one with the most exceptions. The first automation should be boring, high-volume and stable, because its job is to prove the approach works.
A simple ranking makes the choice defensible: frequency times time per occurrence, divided by the number of genuine exceptions. Processes that score high are the ones where automation pays back in weeks. The annoying-but-rare process can wait until the team trusts the tooling.
- Frequency and time per occurrence measured, not estimated
- Number of genuine exceptions counted before starting
- First automation chosen for reliability, not for drama
- Payback estimated in weeks, and checked afterwards