Map, Document, and Automate Repeatable Operations with AI
A practical method for finding your most automatable operational processes and wiring them up with Process Street and Zapier AI.
- Pick targets by frequency × tedium, not glamour: the best first candidates are high-volume, rule-based processes (onboarding checklists, purchase requests, vendor renewals) that nobody enjoys but everyone depends on.
- Document the current state with the people who actually run the process — AI tools can draft an SOP from your notes, but the operators know the three undocumented edge cases that break naive automation.
- Turn the SOP into an executable checklist in Process Street with owners, due dates, and approval steps, so 'the process' becomes running software instead of a shared document nobody opens.
- Automate the seams with Zapier AI: handoffs like 'form submitted → task created → Slack notified → row logged' are exactly what its AI copilot generates from a plain-English description.
- Instrument and iterate: track completion time and failure points monthly, and assign a named owner per workflow. Automations decay as tools and teams change — treat them like code, not like furniture.