Map workflows before you automate

The first win in any automation initiative is not a bot or an API—it is a shared picture of how work really flows. Until owners, handoffs, and exceptions are explicit, tooling only speeds up the wrong thing.

Start by listing triggers and outputs for each step, then add who decides when something is “done enough.” That single habit prevents projects that look successful in demos but fail in production because nobody agreed on edge cases.

When you are ready to prioritize, rank by cost of delay and frequency—not by which team shouts loudest. Automation that removes a daily bottleneck for many people usually beats a rare manual task, even if the rare task feels painful in meetings.