Give a team an hour to find automation ideas and they'll find twenty. The hard part isn't finding ideas. It's deciding which two to build first, and being honest about the rest.
We rank every idea with three questions. Each takes a few seconds to answer, and together they sort a long list into a short plan.
1. Is it worth it?
How much time, money or frustration would this save? Think about how often the task happens and how long it takes each time. A five-minute job done fifty times a week is worth far more than a two-hour job done once a quarter.
Count the hidden costs too: errors that need fixing, customers kept waiting, staff doing work they find tedious.
2. Are we ready?
Could we build this now? Readiness is mostly about data and access:
- Is the information the automation needs written down somewhere, or does it live in someone's head?
- Is it in one place, or spread across WhatsApp chats, spreadsheets and paper forms?
- Do we have access to the systems involved?
An idea can be very valuable and still not ready. That's not a reason to drop it. It's a reason to fix the data first.
3. Is it risky?
What happens if it goes wrong? An automation that tags documents is low risk. One that sends messages to customers or touches money is higher. Risk doesn't rule an idea out, but it changes how much human control it needs and how carefully it should be built.
Putting it together
The three answers place each idea in one of four groups:
- Quick wins: worth it, ready, low risk. Build these first. They earn trust and free up time.
- Strategic bets: worth it, but they need real work or carry more risk. Plan them properly.
- Fix the data first: worth it, but not ready. Sort out the information, then come back.
- Park: not worth it right now. Write them down and revisit later.
The aim isn't a perfect score. It's an honest conversation about what to do on Monday.
Ranking is the fourth step of the method we teach in the Builda workshop: Fix, Design, Control, Rank. At the end of a session, each team's automations are ranked this way, and the business leaves with a map of what to build first and why.