The test that can tell you no.

Five questions about how work gets done in your company. One of the possible results is that you fix something else before spending a euro on me.

Question 1 of 5

How many times a month does the process you have in mind happen?

Fewer than twenty times Between twenty and a hundred Between a hundred and five hundred More than five hundred

Does it follow fixed rules or does someone have to decide each time?

Every case is different and needs judging There are rules, but often with exceptions Always the same: if this happens, you do this

Is the data you work with already in some system?

On paper or in someone's head In spreadsheets and emails In a program, but with no way of getting it out In an ERP or CRM it can be taken out of

If that work did itself, what would those hours be spent on?

Nothing in particular. There's time to spare Things that only get half done today Work that's already waiting and not getting done

How many people touch that process?

One, working alone or nearly Two or three More than three, or several departments

Why a test that says no.

Because half the time the honest answer is «not yet». An automation project on a process that happens ten times a month never pays for itself, and whoever sells it to you knows that.

The five questions are the same ones I ask on the fifteen-minute call, in the same order.

Two other doors.

The 10-minute X-ray: you describe a process in eight fields and I send you back a document by email within 48 hours.

The catalogue of manual processes: the inventory of what I come across inside local companies, with what each one costs and whether it's worth touching.