Loading learning content…
Loading learning content…
A framework for auditing your work and finding the highest-value automation targets.
Read through the lesson, mark it complete when the concept is clear, then move to the next lesson in the sequence or jump back to the module map.
Not every task should be automated. The best automation targets are: high volume, low variance, rule-based, and currently time-consuming. A simple framework for finding them:
Volume — How often does this task happen? Daily beats weekly beats monthly.
Variance — How different is each instance from the last? Low variance tasks are easier to automate reliably.
Time cost — How long does this take manually? Automate the slow ones first.
Error cost — What happens when this task is done wrong? Automate tasks where errors are expensive but detectable.
Score each candidate task on 1-5 scale across four dimensions:
Total > 16: automate now. 12-16: automate next. <12: manual for now.
Automate the 80% case first. The remaining 20% of edge cases will consume 80% of the automation engineering effort — often not worth it. Build for the common case; handle exceptions manually until volume justifies further automation.