Fazley RabbiBefore you automate any process, draw it on paper: every step, who does it, which tool they use, where the work waits and where it goes wrong. It takes an hour or two with the people who actually do the work, and it is the cheapest way to avoid automating a broken process. Most automation problems come from steps nobody wrote down, exceptions nobody mentioned and handovers nobody owned. A map brings them into the open.
Why paper first
Paper, a whiteboard or sticky notes on a wall are fast, cheap and easy to change. Nobody feels they need special skills, so the staff who do the work speak up. And a drawing shows things a conversation hides: the same information typed three times, a step that waits a day for the owner's approval, or two people who each think the other is sending the invoice.
When I plan an automation project, the map is the first thing I ask to see. If it does not exist, drawing it together is the first piece of work.
What you need
- A large sheet of paper, a whiteboard or a wall with sticky notes
- Pens in two or three colours
- The people who do the work, not only the manager who describes it
- A real, recent example to trace from start to finish, such as last Tuesday's orders
The method, step by step
Step 1: Pick one workflow and set its edges
Choose a single process with a clear start and end. "Sales" is too big. "From a customer's Facebook message to the parcel leaving the shop" is the right size. Write the starting event on the left and the finished outcome on the right.
Step 2: Write each step on its own note
Ask "What happens next?" again and again. One action per note: "Reply with price", "Ask for address", "Write order in the notebook", "Book courier", "Send tracking number". Keep going until you reach the end. Use verbs, not job titles.
Step 3: Add who does it and with what
Under each note, write who does it and what they use: WhatsApp, a notebook, a spreadsheet, the courier's website, a phone call, bKash or Nagad.
Step 4: Mark the waiting and the time
Draw a small clock wherever work sits waiting: for approval, for payment, for someone to come back from lunch, for the internet to return after a power cut. Note roughly how long each step and each wait takes. Rough is fine.
Step 5: Mark decisions and exceptions
Where the path splits, draw a diamond and write the question: "Paid in advance or cash on delivery?", "Inside or outside the city?", "Is the item in stock?" Then ask the team, "What else goes wrong here?" Write down every exception, even rare ones. Exceptions are where automations break.
Step 6: Circle the pain
In a second colour, circle the steps where mistakes happen, information is retyped or customers complain. These are your candidates.
Reading the map
Once the map is done, step back and look for patterns:
| What you see on the map | What it often means |
|---|---|
| The same details written in several places | A good candidate for automation |
| Long waits for one person | Fix the approval rule first, not the software |
| Many exceptions at one step | Keep a person there, or simplify the rule |
| A step nobody clearly owns | Assign an owner before automating |
| Steps kept "because we always did it" | Remove them; do not automate them |
Often the first improvement needs no technology at all: a clearer rule, a removed step or a named owner.
Draw the improved version
On a fresh sheet, draw how the process should work. Mark which steps software will do, which a person will do, and where a person checks the software's work. Keep the first version modest. For example, a hypothetical online seller in Rajshahi might begin by turning WhatsApp messages into order rows automatically, while a person still confirms each order by phone. The WhatsApp order automation solution shows what that can look like.
Before you build: a short checklist
- The map was drawn with the people who do the work
- Every exception you know about is written down
- Each step has a named owner
- You know roughly how long the process takes today
- You have chosen one small part to automate first
Keep the map. It becomes the basis of your written SOPs, and the "before" picture you need later when judging whether the automation is worth it. To choose the right first step, see the guide to your first automation project. Mapping sessions like this are part of my AI and workflow automation work.