Eliminate first, simplify second, automate last — never…

When This Fires

• Planning any automation project — scripts, workflows, integrations
• When someone suggests "let's automate this" as a first response
• During process improvement when deciding what to do about a repetitive task
• Any time the impulse to automate arises before the impulse to simplify

Common Failure Mode

Jumping straight to automate because it's the most exciting step. You build a complex automation for a process that shouldn't exist — now the waste is automated, running faithfully every day, and questioning it feels like questioning a significant investment. "We spent two weeks building this automation, we can't just turn it off." The automation becomes a sunk-cost anchor that prevents the elimination step that should have happened first.

The Protocol

Before any automation effort: (1) Eliminate: list every step in the process. For each, ask: "If we removed this entirely, what would break?" If nothing → eliminate. (2) Simplify: for remaining steps, ask: "Can this be made simpler — fewer inputs, fewer branches, fewer dependencies?" Simplify before encoding. (3) Automate: only the simplified, necessary steps. The automation should be simple because the underlying process is simple. If the automation script is complex, the process probably wasn't simplified enough.