How do I map the repetitive tasks in my week?

Repetitive tasks are hard to see: an email here, a data copy there, a confirmation somewhere else. Each takes a few minutes, but added up they fill hours. To decide what to simplify or automate, you first need to know what is done and how long it takes. This is a simple method for that.

Step 1: record for five working days

On a sheet or in a notebook, always by hand, record each time you do a task you have done before. Six columns:

1. What I did, in a few words.
2. How long it took.
3. When, at what time or on which day of the week.
4. With what tool: email, spreadsheet, phone, WhatsApp, paper, software.
5. Who did it: you or someone else.
6. Why: what triggered it (a request, a date, a habit).

Record at the moment, not at the end of the day: from memory, the small tasks are lost, and those are the ones that weigh most.

Step 2: group

At the end of the five days, group similar tasks: replying to enquiries, confirming bookings, copying data, sending documents, preparing reports, asking for reviews. Each group adds up the total time and the number of times.

Step 3: score each group

For each group, answer five questions, yes or no:

• Does it repeat several times a week?
• Does it have clear rules (when this happens, do that)?
• Is the data already digital?
• If it fails, is the harm small and quickly seen?
• Can I say what changed when it is done?

The groups with most "yes" and most time are the candidates. The criteria are those of which tasks to automate first.

Step 4: take off the list what should not be automated

Delicate conversations, decisions that change with context, tasks with sensitive data, tasks that hardly repeat. Read when it is not worth automating.

Step 5: choose the first

Among the candidates, choose the one that takes most time or annoys you most. Start with it. It does not need to be the biggest: it needs to be the clearest. If it is reports, see which reports you can have without a manual spreadsheet.

Step 6: keep the map

Keep the sheet. In six months, repeat the exercise for a week and compare: what changed? What time did you gain? What new tasks appeared? The map is a tool that is repeated.

Common mistakes

• Recording from memory, and losing the small tasks.
• Forgetting other team members' tasks, who also repeat things.
• Choosing the most complicated task first, instead of the clearest.
• Wanting to solve everything at once. One task per quarter is already a gain.

In process automation, we always start with this map, made together, because that is where you see what really weighs.

A notebook for a week

Choose a normal week, neither on holiday nor at peak. Put a notebook or a sheet next to the keyboard and, whenever you do a task you have done before, write a line with the six columns. If you are on a call or in a meeting, write afterwards, in the break. On the sixth day, add up the times by group and choose the two tasks that took most time. Write, for each, what would be "done" if it were solved. Show the sheet to someone on the team and ask what they recognise as theirs. The map is more faithful when more than one person fills it in.

In short

• Record each repetitive task for five working days, at the moment you do it.
• Group and add up the time of each group.
• Score with five questions and take off what should not be automated.
• Choose the first, the clearest, and repeat the map in six months.

Quick questions

Do I need a tool to do the recording?

No. A notebook or a sheet is enough. What matters is recording at the moment and not from memory.

How long does this take?

The recording takes a few seconds per task for five days. The analysis takes half an hour. The gain usually pays off in the first week.

What if the team does not want to record?

Explain the goal, which is to see where the time is and not to assess people. Show the first result quickly: seeing what is saved convinces more than asking.