7 min read
Is this task ready to automate? A six-question test
Before you build anything, check whether the task is stable, rule-based and owned. Six questions that separate good automation candidates from expensive mistakes.
Blog
Process first.
Written down.
Short, practical articles on understanding how work moves, writing it down and automating only the steps that are ready. No hype, no invented results.
21 articles
Pick the problem you have this week.
Each article ends with a concrete next step: a template, a checklist or the course that goes deeper.
AUTOMATION4 ARTICLES
7 min read
Why automations fail silently, and how to design visible failure routes
Every automation will eventually fail. Plan where failures go, who is told, and how work is recovered, so problems are noticed in hours rather than weeks.
6 min read
Handing over an automation so it survives the person who built it
What to document and transfer when an automation goes live: purpose, owner, accounts, triggers, failure routes and how to switch it off.
6 min read
Webhooks explained for operations teams
What a webhook is, how it differs from a scheduled check, and what an operations person needs to know to work with developers or no-code tools that use them.
SOPS1 ARTICLE
8 min read
How to write an SOP a new teammate can actually follow
A practical structure for standard operating procedures: purpose, trigger, owner, steps, decisions and exceptions — written so someone new can do the work without asking.
OPERATIONS15 ARTICLES
7 min read
Process mapping in one hour: trigger, steps, owners and stall points
A lightweight way to map a business process with sticky notes or a whiteboard, find where work waits, and decide what to fix first.
6 min read
Approval workflows that do not stall
Design approvals with named owners, clear thresholds, deadlines and a fallback, so requests stop sitting in someone's inbox.
7 min read
Client onboarding: from scattered emails to a checked, assigned workflow
Structure client onboarding into collect, check, assign and hand over, so nothing depends on someone remembering the next email to send.
6 min read
Spreadsheet operations: set up validation before you build dashboards
A dashboard is only as reliable as the sheet behind it. How to structure an operations spreadsheet with one row per item, fixed columns, dropdowns and checks.
5 min read
The 30-minute weekly operations review
A short, fixed agenda that keeps a small team's operations visible: what moved, what is stuck, what failed and the one improvement for next week.
5 min read
Your business runs on one person's memory. Here's how to get it out of their head
If one teammate is the only one who knows how things really work, every holiday is a risk. A calm, practical way to capture that knowledge without a documentation marathon.
5 min read
The 'quick favour' tasks quietly eating your week (and how to spot them)
Small, unplanned requests feel harmless one at a time. Together they swallow whole days. How to make invisible work visible and decide what to standardise, delegate or stop.
5 min read
Why your team keeps asking "where's that file?" — and the one-afternoon fix
Lost files are not a people problem. They are a structure problem. A simple folder, naming and link system that ends the daily hunt.
5 min read
Busy isn't the same as productive: find the work that actually moves things
A full calendar and a long to-do list can hide the fact that nothing important is advancing. A practical way to separate outcome work from motion.
5 min read
The hidden cost of "just send me a WhatsApp": why chat is a terrible task tracker
Chat is perfect for quick conversation and terrible for tracking work. Why tasks get lost in messages, and a simple rule to move them somewhere they can be finished.
5 min read
Stop firefighting: a simple triage system for small teams
When everything feels urgent, nothing gets handled well. A practical triage method borrowed from support teams that helps small businesses respond calmly and consistently.
5 min read
The Monday morning chaos test: what your first hour reveals about your operations
How your team starts the week says a lot about how your systems work. A short self-check, and the fixes that make Monday calm instead of frantic.
5 min read
One inbox, five people, zero owners: fixing the shared mailbox problem
Shared inboxes create a classic trap: everyone can see the email, so everyone assumes someone else is handling it. Simple ownership rules that fix it.
5 min read
You don't need more tools. You need fewer places where work lives
Tool sprawl makes simple questions hard to answer. How to map where your work actually lives, consolidate sensibly and stop adding apps to fix app problems.
5 min read
The bottleneck is probably you: how founders become the slowest step
Founders often become the approval point for everything without meaning to. How to recognise it and hand over decisions without losing quality or control.
AI IN OPERATIONS1 ARTICLE
8 min read
Using AI in operations with human review: where it helps and where it should not decide
AI tools are useful for drafting, summarising and sorting operational work. A practical guide to placing them in a workflow with clear review points.
Have a workflow
that keeps stalling?
Bring one real process to a focused review. We map it first, then decide what, if anything, to automate.