Building an automation is the exciting part, and it’s the part everyone budgets for. Looking after it is quieter work, and it decides whether the automation is still useful next year.

The world around it keeps moving

Software tools release new versions. Connected systems change the way they send data. The AI model behind a tool gets replaced by a newer one that behaves a little differently. And the business changes too: discount tiers, approval limits, the way files are named.

All of this is normal, and every automation lives with it. What matters is that someone notices when a change affects it, and has the time to adjust it.

The ones you build for yourself need it most

I teach people to build automations for their own work, and these are often the most valuable ones. They are also the most fragile: quick to build, usually undocumented, and understood by one person. When that person has a busy week, a small break becomes a workaround, and the workaround quietly becomes the new way of working.

A short written note of what the automation does, and what it depends on, goes a long way.

Give the owner real time

When an automation matters to the business, someone needs to own it, with time set aside in their week to keep it working. A few protected hours make all the difference.

Match the care to how much it matters

Important to the business, with rules that change often. Give it an owner with protected time, or a partner whose job is to keep it running.

Small and personal. Look after it yourself. If it stops working, you can rebuild it or let it go.

Either way, write its rules down in a file. An automation with written rules can be picked up by someone else.

Two questions before you build

First: can we automate this? These days the answer is usually yes.

Second: when it needs attention in a few months, whose week will it go into? With a name and a few hours set aside, you’re building something that keeps paying off.

In your department

  • Operations & Delivery: Name the person who adjusts the job-status automation when a form, a site or a supplier changes, and give them an hour in their week for it.
  • Accounts & Finance: When a tax rate, an approval limit or a discount tier changes, something that depends on it needs updating. Put that check on the month-end list.
  • Strategy & Planning: Budget the upkeep together with the build: a few protected hours a month for each automation the business relies on.