Choosing the Right Automation Strategy
1. Choosing the right automation strategy
Welcome back! When we start building automations, it's tempting to automate everything. But not every process is worth automating, and in this video, we'll learn how to decide what truly is.2. Not everything should be automated
Some tasks are too simple, rare, or unstable to justify the effort, and others can cost more to maintain than they save. In this video, we'll learn a practical decision-making framework, using audits, scoring, and scalability checks to determine which processes are worth automating and which should remain manual. To get a better idea, we'll use one consistent example: automating invoice processing for a small business.3. The automation audit
The first step is a workflow audit. Ask: How often does this task happen?4. The automation audit
How much time does it waste?5. The automation audit
What's the risk if it fails?6. The automation audit
If a process happens daily, like invoice processing, and saves hours of manual work, it's a strong candidate. But if it only occurs once every few months, it's probably not worth the overhead.7. Plan before you automate
Before jumping into n8n, map the process. Planning early helps us see what's possible and not worth automating.8. Plan before you automate
Write down: What are the inputs? (for example, a new invoice email)9. Plan before you automate
What are the outputs? (for example, data added to a spreadsheet)10. Plan before you automate
What's the path between them? This quick outline makes building smoother and prevents wasted time on low-impact automations.11. Automation opportunity scoring matrix
Here's an example of an automation opportunity scoring matrix. This helps us evaluate which processes are worth automating based on three main factors: how often they happen, how easy they are to implement, and their ROI potential.12. Automation opportunity scoring matrix
For example, invoice processing happens daily, is fairly easy to automate with existing templates, and saves significant time compared to doing it manually. It scores high across all categories and becomes one of our top automation candidates.13. Automation opportunity scoring matrix
Once we've filled out the scoring matrix, here's how to interpret the results. Ease of implementation matters. The longer or more complex the process, the more time it takes to automate since there are more nodes to build and maintain. The scores are then added for each column, and in this case, a score out of 15 is considered. The top 3 highest scores are the highest priority processes for the business to automate.14. Check for scalability risks
Even good automations can struggle when they scale. For instance, if our invoice workflow expands to process thousands of records daily,15. Check for scalability risks
we might hit API rate limits or run into slow database queries. To prevent this, build with growth in mind, add retries, error handling, and batch large operations. We've already seen these best practices earlier; they make our workflows production-ready.16. Document and reuse
Finally, document all workflows. In n8n, we can name nodes clearly, use Sticky Notes for context, or leave comments on complex steps. For example, we might add a note explaining why an API call includes a delay or how a field is formatted in the invoice process. Clear documentation makes our workflows easier to reuse, share, and maintain, turning them into assets for the whole team.17. Let's practice!
Now that we know how to spot good automation opportunities, we'll use this framework to decide where automation makes the most impact.Create Your Free Account
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