Article
Someone asked me on LinkedIn whether businesses should automate a process or simplify it. My answer is to simplify it first.
That order matters because removing a step costs you nothing. The process gets faster, and you no longer need to put people or time into that step. You improve the process before adding another tool to it.
Start by taking work out
When people look at a slow process, automation can feel like the obvious answer. But the process may still contain work that does not need to happen.
Look at the steps already there. If one can come out, take it out. The process now has less work to complete every time it runs. That is useful whether you automate the remaining steps or not.
This is the simplest place to begin, but it is not always the easiest. Simple is hard. Complex is easy.
Complexity grows around edge cases
Businesses often overcomplicate a process because they try to catch every possible edge case. Each new condition adds another step. Keep doing that and the process becomes a behemoth that nobody can follow, or one that takes far too long to finish.
Automation does not remove that complexity. It automates the process you give it. If the process is already overloaded with steps, you are putting tools and effort around work that may not belong there in the first place.
Simplifying forces you to decide what the process actually needs to do. It means looking at each step and asking whether it earns its place. When a step does not, remove it before you spend resources automating it.
Keep the order straight
The sequence is straightforward:
- Simplify the process.
- Automate what remains.
- Use AI where it fits.
AI comes last because it is another way to handle work, not a reason to keep unnecessary work. First make the process easier to follow and faster to run. Then automate the steps that still need to happen.
Before choosing an automation tool or adding AI, go back through the process once more. Find the step you can take out. Remove it, then work with what remains.