---
title: "Do not automate a broken process: the 10-minute diagnosis"
slug: diagnostico-proceso-antes-de-automatizar
lang: en
situation: operar
format: hoja
minutes: 10
video: 11
updated: 2026-10-19
---

# Do not automate a broken process: the 10-minute diagnosis

> For operations managers with a process that is a candidate for automation and an AI proposal on the table.

## When to use it

- Someone proposes "putting AI on" a process whose documents currently get corrected three times.
- You have a demo that promises to save time and you do not know how long the process takes today.
- Your slowest process gets stuck in approvals, data or corrections, and you do not know which.

## The sheet

One row per step, start to finish. Five to eight rows is enough.

| Step | Who | Working time | Wait after the step | Times corrected | Does the approval decide anything? | Exceptions (out of 10) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Verb + object: "Review quote"] | [Role] | [Real minutes] | [Hours or days until someone picks it up] | [0, 1, 2, 3 or more] | [Yes / No / No approval] | [Cases that leave the normal path] |
| Illustrative: approve order | Area manager | 5 min | 2 days | 2 | No: approves everything | 3 |
| | | | | | | |

Totals: work ____ · wait ____ · corrections ____ · approvals that decide nothing ____ · exceptions ____

Decision:

- Automate: few corrections, approvals that decide, low exceptions, and you already have today's measurement.
- Fix first: two or more corrections per step, approvals nobody reads, or data that does not add up. AI would repeat that faster, and with a licence.
- Leave it alone: the process changes every time, or one person does it in less time than it would take to explain it to a tool.

My decision: Automate / Fix first / Leave it alone · What I fix before: ____________________

## How to fill it in 10 minutes

1. Sit with the person who does the process, not the person who designed it. Ask them to walk through it step by step and write one verb per row.
2. Fill the wait column first. It is almost always larger than the working time and it is what AI does not fix.
3. Ask how many times each document gets corrected and why. That is where the rework lives.
4. For every approval ask: does anyone decide anything with this, or does it exist out of habit? If nobody has rejected anything in six months, it does not decide.
5. Make the three cuts before deciding: eliminate what exists out of habit, simplify approvals and copies down to a single format, and measure how long it takes and how many times it is corrected.
6. The most common mistake: automating the wait. A tool that drafts in seconds a document that then waits two days for a signature saves seconds, not days.

## The line that is almost always missing

The wait column. AI proposals measure working time, because that is what the tool shortens. But the process lives in the waits, the corrections and the approvals nobody reads. If you automate before measuring that, you will never know whether AI saved you anything, because you have nothing to compare against.

## If this becomes a big decision

If the automation means a contract that is hard to reverse and carries your name, the free tools at vicsol.org/decision-clarity/ help you structure the decision. They do not replace a formal review.

---

Vic Sol · Decision Desk · vicsol.org/resources/ · Free to use with attribution.
This sheet structures a conversation; it is not legal, financial or audit advice.