The workbench · for AI enablers
Don't do
robot work.
Become the AI enabler at your company. The workbench shows you which work to hand to AI.
Opens the workbench on automationtactics.com.
Fig. 1 · Friday, 4:40 p.m.Robot work, performed by a person.
01 · The term
Robot work is any task a person repeats by hand that software should be doing.
You already have the software. You are still doing the part it should do.
Recent sightings Any desk job
| Task | Recurs |
|---|---|
| Retyping a report from one system into another. | Weekly |
| Copying the same numbers from an email into a spreadsheet. | Daily |
| Rebuilding the status update from the same three sources. | Mondays |
| Reformatting a document into the template people actually want. | Per project |
| Chasing the same approval by forwarding the same email. | Per request |
| Copying notes from a call into the tracker afterward. | Per meeting |
02 · Why it is hard
It is hard to tell which steps are robot work.
Ask someone how they do the Monday status report and you get one sentence. The steps are in their head, in an order nobody wrote down.
- The steps are only in someone's head.Nobody wrote them down, and the person who does the task skips the ones that feel obvious.
- One step can hold both kinds of work.A machine can draft the summary. Deciding what it tells your boss stays with you.
- People do the same task differently.Two people in the same job can run the same task in a different order.
- The exceptions show up late.The steps that break only appear in the weeks something goes wrong, so a quick walkthrough misses them.
Every Monday I pull the numbers from four systems, paste them into the template, figure out why two of them never match, write up a summary, decide what to flag for my boss, and send it to the same seven people.
03 · The workbench
Introducing the workbench.
Describe a task in your own words. The workbench lays it out step by step and marks each step as robot work or judgment, with a prompt for every step a machine can take.
At a glance
4 of 6
Steps are robot work
A machine can do this Judgment, yours
Mapped by you
- Open four systems and pull this week's numbers.Robot work
- Paste them into the spreadsheet template.Robot work
- Find the two numbers that never match, and work out why.Stays with you
- Write the summary paragraph.Robot work, draft · 1 prompt
- Decide what needs flagging to your boss.Stays with you
- Send it to the same seven people.Robot work
Step 04
Write the summary paragraph.
Prompt for Copilot
Draft a short summary of this week's numbers from the attached sheet for the team. Note anything that moved since last week. Leave the two numbers that don't match for me to explain.
Each map carries your name. Being the person who can show how the work runs is a good thing to be right now.
04 · Start
Map your first task.
Pick a task you or a colleague repeats every week and map it in the workbench. The steps it marks are the first ones to hand to AI.
Opens the workbench on automationtactics.com.
When your company wants an AI enabler in every department, AutomationTactics helps set that up.