WHICH TASK SHOULD WE AUTOMATE FIRST?
Layer7 Consulting | September 24, 2026
https://layer7consulting.ca/guides/which-business-task-to-automate-first/

A discussion worksheet, not a prediction of savings or success.
Use a copy of the task section for each of three tasks. Keep private customer
records, passwords and other sensitive information out of this worksheet.

TASK NAME:
What starts it:
What counts as finished:
Person doing the work:
Current tools:
Times per week:
Hands-on minutes per task:
Weekly effort = frequency x minutes:
Extra correction time (only if not already counted):

SCORE EACH QUESTION 0, 1 OR 2
Frequency: 0 rarely / 1 some weeks / 2 most working days
Clear steps: 0 different each time / 1 some usual steps / 2 clear, few exceptions
Ready information: 0 missing/inconsistent / 1 cleanup needed / 2 complete/consistent
Benefit: 0 little / 1 helpful / 2 frees time for a named priority
Total out of 8:
What is the named priority or useful improvement:

PAUSE CHECKS - A HIGH SCORE DOES NOT OVERRIDE THESE
Are the rules agreed?
Is the information reliable?
Could a mistake cause harm or be hard to undo?
What needs a person's approval?
Who will check failures and stop the process?

COMPARE THE FULL EFFORT
Setup effort and cost:
Expected review time per task (an estimate until tested):
Ongoing checks, fixes and costs:
Can the current software already do this?

SMALL TRIAL
Chosen task and reason:
Owner:
Examples to test, including unusual cases:
What would make us continue:
What would make us change or stop:
How to stop and complete the work by hand:

Compare all three tasks. A higher score is a reason to investigate, not an
instruction to buy or build. Resolve pause conditions first. Actual benefit
must be measured after review, correction and ongoing work are included.