The Automator

How to complete The Automator

Every job has a task people do on autopilot that a machine should be doing: renaming files, copying data between systems, sending the same status email. Automating one is a small act of engineering that pays out forever and changes how you see all repetitive work afterward.

1. List the tasks you repeat at least weekly, and pick the one that is most boring, most manual, and lowest risk if it fails.
2. Do it manually one more time while writing down every single click and decision.
3. Choose the simplest tool that fits: a spreadsheet formula or macro, a shell or Python script, a Zapier or Make workflow, or a scheduled job.
4. Build it to handle the normal case only; skip edge cases on the first version.
5. Run it alongside the manual process once or twice to verify identical output, then let it take over.
6. Leave a short note somewhere about how it works, for future you.

Tips

• If automation takes longer to build than a year of doing the task manually, pick a different task.
• Failure should be loud: have the script error visibly rather than silently producing wrong output.
• AI assistants can write most of a one-off script; you mainly need to describe the steps precisely.

What counts as done

The task now runs without you, and at least one real cycle has completed correctly with no manual intervention.