Operations
Advanced
16 min
Maintaining automations — the part nobody plans for
The problem
Six automations run in your business. The person who built three of them has left. Nobody is sure what two of them do.
The workflow
1Build the register
2Assign owners
3Record dependencies
4Add heartbeats
5Verify quarterly
6Update rules
7Retire the dead
★Reassign on departure
What you need
Automations: (1) weekly stock exception report — built by Rahul, who left in January; (2) daily lead follow-up drafts — owned by Kavita, verified last month; (3) monthly reconciliation chain — owned by Fatima, verified in October; (4) supplier payment reminder — built by Rahul, nobody sure who owns…
The tool
One spreadsheet
The prompt
Subscribers. The full prompt is part of the SMEMinds AI Playbook. See plans.
What comes back
1. ORPHANED — highest priority.
Verify before you use it
Human review required. Check every line below before this leaves your screen.
- Check automation 1 first. Four months of wrong reorder thresholds is a real stock consequence and it is entirely plausible.
- Verify automation 3 manually against one month's actual settlement. Do not assume the absence of errors means it is correct.
- Assign named owners today. An automation without an owner will not be maintained regardless of what else you do.
- Ask the MD about the sales summary directly. 'Nobody commented' is weak evidence in either direction.