Articles / Stop Automating Feelings
1 month ago 2 min read
Operations & Process

Stop Automating Feelings

If you feel overwhelmed, the answer is usually not more automation. The answer is one clear list and one clear owner.

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Key takeaways

What you’ll walk away with

Replace panic with one small list

Pick a finish line

Automate the clear part, not the fuzzy part

If your day feels loud, automation is a tempting answer. More reminders. More pings. More dashboards. Sometimes that helps. A lot of the time it makes things worse, because you end up automating a fuzzy problem.

What I mean by "feelings"

I mean these moments:

  • "We are dropping balls."
  • "Everything is urgent."
  • "We need to move faster."
  • "We need automation."

Those are real feelings. They are also not clear requirements.

A real example

A team is behind on follow ups, so they build an automation that sends reminders.

Now the reminders fire all day. People ignore them. Then they feel even more behind.

The real issue was not reminders. The real issue was that nobody owned follow up, and nobody knew what done looked like.

A calmer reset

Instead of adding more automation, do this first. Make one short list of open loops, then pick a finish line and an owner for each item.

Keep it to the top 10. For the finish line, write one sentence. Example: "Done means the client either books a call or says no."

Then pick one owner for done. The owner can ask for help, but they still own the finish line.

After that, you can automate the clear parts. Create the task. Set the due date. Send one follow up email. Do not automate the part that needs judgment.

Why this matters

Automation is not a cure for overwhelm. Clarity is. If you get clear first, your tools stop nagging and start helping.

If you want help with this, book a discovery call.

What is one thing in your business that feels loud and messy right now?

Next step

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by Alek Mlynek
Operations & Process