Map the workflow first. Then add AI.
AI can follow a workflow. It can't follow a habit. My job is turning the way your best person works into a workflow AI can run.
The five parts of a workflow
A workflow is ready for AI when five things are written down:
- The trigger. What starts the work? A new signup, the first Monday of the month, a client email.
- The inputs. Where the information lives, and which source wins when two disagree.
- The steps. In order, including the boring ones people forget they do.
- The judgement calls. "If the numbers dropped, say so in the first line." "If the client sounds annoyed, flag it and stop." This is the part that's usually missing.
- What good looks like. Two or three real examples of finished work you were happy with.
The long version is in AI can only do work that's been defined.
How I map one
Watch, don't ask. If you ask people to document their work, they write what they think they do. I sit with the person who does it best and watch them do it once, on a real piece of work.
Ask why at every choice. Each "why" is a judgement call AI will need.
Test the page on someone else. Hand it to a teammate and have them follow it literally. Every place they get stuck is a gap AI would have fallen into too.
Then build. Connect AI to the inputs, give it the page, and test it on one real project.
A mapped workflow in practice
For a software startup, the sales workflow became a board: waitlist, invited, call booked, deciding, onboarding, won or lost. The rules for each stage were written down: when to follow up, what to do with a no-show, what to tag in call notes. Now AI runs that workflow three times a day, and the founder runs the AI.
Why it's worth doing even without AI
A written workflow is how you train the next hire. It's how you spot the step nobody needs any more. And it's the hardest part of any AI project, done.
Common questions
What does an AI workflow consultant do?
Maps how a team's work really gets done, writes it down clearly enough for AI to follow, then builds AI to run it.
How long does it take to map one workflow?
Hours, not weeks: one session watching the person who does it best, and one test where someone else follows the page.
Which workflow should we map first?
One that happens every week, that one person does well, and that has a clear finished result.
What if our workflow is different every time?
Then the judgement calls are what need writing down. Usually the variation follows rules that nobody has said out loud yet.