Pick the one job to automate

Build-along · ~15 min at your own keyboard

Do not automate the most exciting task. Automate the most boring one that repeats. A good job runs on a clock or an event, has inputs you can name, and ends in an output you can look at. Write it as a card: trigger, inputs, steps, output, where the output lands, and who checks it. Then score it. Multiply how often it happens by the minutes it takes. That is what you save. Then ask what it costs if it goes wrong. High savings and low cost of a mistake is the target. Reject any job that sends something to a customer without a person looking at it first. The first version of every automation writes a draft. A person sends it.

Ladder · Level 4The long version: Automation ↗

Your starter: Job scorecard

Template

Make it yours: Fill every row from your own last two weeks, not from examples. If you pass Audit your week in Level 0, this starter opens with your ranked list. Then write the card for the one job you picked.

TASKS I REPEAT (five, one line each)
| Task | Times per month | Minutes each | Minutes per month | Cost if wrong (low, medium, high) |
| 1. |  |  |  |  |
| 2. |  |  |  |  |
| 3. |  |  |  |  |
| 4. |  |  |  |  |
| 5. |  |  |  |  |

Any task that sends to a customer or spends money with no person checking: change its output to a draft.
Changed to a draft:
Picked (most minutes per month, low or medium cost):

JOB CARD
Trigger (a time or an event):
Inputs (what it reads):
Steps (three to six plain steps):
  1.
  2.
  3.
Output (what it makes):
Lands in (the exact place):
Checked by (a named person, and when):

The coach checks that what you paste back is your own work. The starter pasted back unchanged won't pass.

Do this

0/6

Checkpoints

▸You should now see a list of five tasks with minutes per month and a cost-of-error rating for each.
▸You should now see one job picked, and any customer-facing send changed to a draft.
▸You should now see a job card with six filled-in fields, including a named checker.

The three ways this goes wrong

You picked a job that happens once a quarter. — It will not pay back, and you will forget how it works. Pick a job that repeats weekly or daily. Do the rare job by hand.
The job card says 'Checked by: me, whenever'. — Set a time. 'Me, Monday 8:30' is a check. 'Whenever' is not. Put it in your calendar.
The job needs five different tools and a login for each. — Cut it down. Pick the part that uses one tool and one output. Add the rest later, after the first part has run for two weeks.

Share what happened

Paste your scored list of tasks (frequency, minutes, cost of error) and the finished job card for the one you picked.

Strip API keys, passwords, and tokens before you paste. Swap them for [KEY].

🔒 Don't paste confidential, personal-health, or payment info.