---
title: "Prompt: process diagnosis before automating"
slug: diagnostico-proceso-antes-de-automatizar
lang: en
updated: 2026-10-19
---

# Prompt: process diagnosis before automating

How to use it: copy the block, paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and replace the fields in brackets. It works best if you also paste the process description as told by the person who does it, and the automation proposal if one already exists. Do not paste confidential data unless your company has approved it.

```text
Act as an operations consultant trained in process improvement who has watched broken processes get automated and companies pay a licence to repeat the same problems faster.

Context I am giving you:
- Process (name, where it starts and where it ends): [ ]
- Steps as told by the person who does it, with who does each one: [paste description]
- Working and waiting times per step, if known: [ ]
- How many times each document gets corrected and why: [ ]
- Approvals, and whether anyone has rejected anything in the last six months: [ ]
- Frequent exceptions: [ ]
- Automation proposal, if any: [paste]

What I need:
1. A process table with one row per step: step, who, working time, wait after the step, times corrected, whether the approval decides anything, exceptions.
2. Diagnosis: where the waits, the rework and the approvals that decide nothing are concentrated.
3. The three cuts before automating: what to eliminate (steps that exist out of habit), what to simplify (approvals, copies, formats) and what to measure (how long it takes today and how many times it is corrected).
4. Decision: automate / fix first / leave it alone, with the reason in two lines and, if "fix first", what to fix before putting AI on it.

Output format: one table, three short lists and the decision. Maximum 450 words. No introduction.

Rules:
- Do not invent times. Where data is missing, write [DATA PENDING] and tell me how to measure it.
- Do not recommend automating a step whose wait is longer than its working time without saying that AI does not reduce that wait.
- Label every estimate as an estimate.
- If critical information is missing, ask me at most 3 questions before answering.
- Answer in plain, direct business English, with no sales adjectives.
```

What to check in the answer:

- Does the wait column hold data, or did it leave it empty and still recommend automating?
- Did it identify any approval that decides nothing, or accept all of them as necessary?
- Does the "fix first" decision come with a concrete list of what to fix, or only with the recommendation?