Workflow Automation and the Decisions You Should Never Automate

Automate the gathering, the routing, and the recording. Keep the judgement, the exception, and the apology.

The parts worth automating

Most of what a process costs is not the decision. It is assembling the context needed to make it — pulling numbers, chasing approvals, and re-typing the same values into a third system.

Automating that leaves the human with the part that actually needed a human, which is usually about four minutes of a two-hour task.

The parts that must stay human

• Decisions where the cost of being wrong is borne by someone outside the company.
• Anything that would need to be explained to a regulator, a court, or a customer.
• Exceptions — by definition the rules did not anticipate them.

Automate the errand. Never automate the accountability.