Automation gets pitched as a fix for inconsistency, but it usually does the opposite. An automated version of an inconsistent process doesn't become consistent. It just runs the same inconsistency at a much higher speed, with nobody in the loop to catch it anymore.
Standardizing first is the less exciting step, but it's what actually makes the automation that follows worth building.
Automation makes a process faster, not better
Automation is very good at doing exactly what it's told, exactly the same way, every time. That's the whole value. If what it's told is itself unclear or inconsistent, automating it doesn't resolve the inconsistency, it just removes the human judgment that used to quietly compensate for it.
Get the team to one way of doing it first
Before automating anything, find out how many different ways your team currently does the same task. If three people each have their own version of "how we onboard a client," automating one of those versions just makes it the default, while the actual disagreement about the right way goes unresolved.
Write down the version you're actually automating
Once the team agrees on one approach, write it down as an explicit, step-by-step process, not a general description. This document becomes the actual spec for the automation. If a step is too vague to write down clearly, it's too vague to automate reliably.
In Stelaah, automations are built from real workflow triggers and actions, so what gets automated matches a documented process rather than someone's private mental model of it. See how automations work.
Start with the smallest reliable piece
Resist the urge to automate an entire multi-step process at once. Start with the smallest, most reliable piece, the part that genuinely never varies, and confirm it works exactly as intended before expanding it further.
Review the automated version like you would a new hire
Treat a newly automated process the way you'd treat a new team member's first weeks. Check its output regularly at first, not because you expect it to be wrong, but because a quiet failure in an automated process can run unnoticed for far longer than a human one would.
A simple checklist
If you do nothing else, do these five things:
- Find every variation of how the team currently does the task.
- Get agreement on one standard approach before automating anything.
- Write that approach down as an explicit, step-by-step process.
- Automate the smallest, most reliable piece first.
- Review the automated version's output closely for the first few weeks.
Do that, and automation actually saves the time it promises, instead of just running an unresolved disagreement faster than before.
Run your client work in one place. Stelaah keeps projects, clients, contracts, and invoices together, with Aria for the busywork.
Start freeWe build Stelaah, the workspace for client work. We write about running teams, agencies, and venues without the busywork.
