First AI Movers — Archive

Workflow Automation Assessment

Answer seven questions about one workflow. You get a provisional verdict — BUILD, REPAIR_FIRST, DEFER or STOP — with the reasons behind it, and a one-page record you can download.

This applies the method published in Before You Automate a Workflow: 7 Questions That Decide BUILD, REPAIR_FIRST, DEFER, or STOP. Read the article for the reasoning behind each question.

Everything stays in your browser. This tool makes no network requests, calls no AI model, and stores nothing — not on a server and not on this device. Closing the tab discards your answers. The downloaded record is generated locally.

It is a structured aid to your own judgement, not advice, an audit, or any form of certification. It produces no estimate of savings, cost or time: the article is explicit that the baseline must be measured by you, and this page cannot measure it.

1 What decision or outcome does the workflow exist to produce?

Start with the output, not the steps. Name the thing a person acts on, and who consumes it.

A specific output a named person acts on, and it is consistent A specific output, but it is inconsistent or not trusted No clear decision-useful output, or nobody acts on it

The fact you can write down (optional)

2 Where is time or failure actually concentrated?

A baseline in a directly observable unit: manual minutes per item, rework count, wait time, exception rate. Measured, not estimated.

Measured from real data, and the value justifies the work Measured, but the value does not clearly beat the current cost Not measurable today, or the only numbers are estimates

The fact you can write down (optional)

3 What is the strongest non-AI alternative?

Removing the step, a configuration change, a plain integration, a deterministic rule, or an existing product.

Considered, and none of them dominates an AI step A non-AI option is roughly comparable on cost and risk A non-AI option removes the need entirely

The fact you can write down (optional)

4 Which systems and data must be touched?

Every system read from and written to, and every fact that lives in someone's head, inbox or personal spreadsheet.

Every input has a supported interface and a lawful basis Clean, but a dependency is changing (migration, regulatory clarification) An input has no supported interface, no lawful basis, or exists only in someone's head

The fact you can write down (optional)

5 What can fail, and who notices?

For each failure mode: is a human in the loop before the effect lands, how is it rolled back, and what audit trail exists? Name the one thing that must never fail silently.

Failure modes are named, with owners, rollback and an audit trail Named, but rollback or the audit trail is incomplete The failure modes cannot be made acceptable

The one thing that must never fail silently (optional)

6 What does "good enough" mean before production?

A reference set of real past items with known correct outcomes, an agreed measure, and a threshold below which it stays out of production.

A reference set and an agreed threshold exist, or can be assembled now A threshold is agreed, but no reference set can be assembled yet Neither a reference set nor a threshold exists

The fact you can write down (optional)

7 What is the decision today?

The article is firm on this: pick exactly one verdict and record the evidence behind it. Do not leave with a "maybe". The recommendation below is an input to that decision, not the decision.

Workflow Automation Assessment

Provisional recommendation

Why

What the article says to do next