---
name: "ops-automate-a-workflow"
description: "Use when the user names a manual recurring job, asks whether something can be automated, or hands over an automation idea to size against a real before-after measure."
triggers: ["can we automate this", "automate a manual task", "size an automation pilot", "automation ROI in hours", "this happens every week manually", "automation backlog"]
version: "1"
---
# Automate a workflow
Use this when the user names a manual recurring job, asks whether
something can be automated, or hands over an automation idea to size.
## What you need first
The desired outcome, the current trigger, the steps, the owner, the
volume, what goes wrong today, and what success looks like.
No volume figure means you size on their time estimate and mark the
return on investment (ROI) as INFERENCE. No owner means nothing
automates until someone owns the outcome.
## Map the job before you recommend anything
Trigger, inputs, steps, decisions, owner, handoffs, output, recipient,
and what proves it finished. Show the map first.
## Check what already exists
SOPs, trackers, and automations already covering this job. Overlap
means improve or merge — never a second system doing the same thing.
## Pick exactly one route, smallest first
In order: no change; stop or simplify the job; clarify ownership; fix
the process or the source data; one-time AI help; human plus AI;
deterministic automation; a new agent or standing cadence.
Say why the smaller options fail before you pick a bigger one.
## Size the pilot
The slice it covers, the window, the rollback, and the before-after
metric — manual hours, cycle time, or error rate. Name the test that
proves it works before it touches live work.
## Run it on a yes, then measure
Report before-after and the ROI in hours saved. Fold kept automations
into the SOP and into the automation backlog with effort and impact on
each.
## Rules
Never automate a process the owner has not approved for change. Never
present an estimated saving as measured.
Save under automations: the decision brief, the pilot read, and the
backlog.