Begin with the work, not the software
A sensible first task repeats, has clear inputs and outputs, and has a person who can check it. Start with preparation rather than a final decision. The test should be easy to stop when it is not useful.
Four places to look
- Research and summaries: prepare a short summary of material a person already understands.
- Customer-question preparation: turn a known question into a draft response for review.
- Internal knowledge finding: organise approved internal notes so a person can find the right starting point.
- Administrative preparation: spot missing details in an intake before someone follows up.
Worked example: preparing customer questions
Current steps
- A customer email arrives.
- A team member reads it and finds the relevant project notes.
- They draft a reply, then check dates, scope, and missing details.
- A person sends the final reply.
Safe sample input
Use a made-up email: “Can you add two product photos to the quote and tell me the delivery date?” Provide only safe project notes: “Two photos add one day. Expected delivery is Friday. Delivery address still needed.”
Expected result
A draft that confirms the known detail, asks for the missing address, and avoids inventing a price or a promise.
Human checkpoint
The account owner checks every draft against the project notes before sending. The draft never goes directly to a customer.
Success evidence
Compare five drafts with the current process. Record missing details, corrections, time spent, and whether the owner would use the draft again.
Stop condition
Stop if drafts add more review work, repeat an incorrect detail, or create a promise the team cannot keep.
Where a person stays involved
Keep a person in the loop before any output reaches a customer, changes a record, or affects money. Give that person time, authority, and clear criteria to reject or edit the result. Human review is where missing context and misleading wording get caught.
What not to automate first
Do not begin with hiring decisions, financial commitments, safety decisions, private records, or work where nobody can explain the right answer. Avoid high consequence tasks, unclear ownership, and data you are not approved to share.
Test before buying
Run the task beside the current process with a small batch of safe examples. Record corrections and the time involved. Continue if the work is easier to finish and check. Revise if the instructions or review step are unclear. Stop if the output creates more work than it saves.
Plan a first business test
Nothing is submitted or retained. Use non-sensitive examples for the manual test.