Every automation conversation starts with a tool and ends with a workflow. Flipping that order is the difference between software that runs your business and software that runs up a bill. Before you scope any automation, answer these five questions about the workflow itself.
1. Does the workflow follow a rule — or does it need judgement?
If the same input reliably produces the same output, it is a rules problem and automation is straightforward. If every case needs fresh judgement — reading context, weighing trade-offs, handling the unexpected — the workflow still benefits from AI, but as an assistant to a human, not a replacement. Be honest about which one you have; the design follows from that answer.
2. How much time does it actually take, and how often?
Automation has a build cost and a maintenance cost. A workflow that consumes a person for an hour every day is a different proposition from one that happens twice a month. Measure the recurring effort before you build, and keep the measure in the business case.
3. Where does the data live, and how do you reach it?
Automation needs access: an API, an export, a database connection, or a human stepping in at the edges. Map the data path first. Workflows that look simple on a whiteboard often hide a data source that is locked down, unstructured or owned by another team. That is a scoping problem, and it is cheaper to find it before the build than during it.
4. What happens when it fails?
A workflow that never fails does not exist. The serious question is what a failure costs and how quickly it surfaces. Retries, logging, alerts and a defined fallback — like routing the item to a person — are not extras. Decide the failure policy before you decide the happy path.
5. What does being wrong cost?
If an error costs a contract or a compliance breach, the automation needs a human checkpoint. If being wrong just means a re-run, it can run unsupervised. The cost of being wrong sets the level of guardrails, review steps and testing the system needs.
Answer these five and you have the raw material for a real scope. Skip them and you have a demo looking for a workflow. If you want help working through them for a specific process, that is exactly what the AI Clarity Session is for.