Understand the process first
Before making a task faster, understand why it exists and who benefits. Automating an unnecessary step may simply produce a faster unnecessary step. This is sample content for the automation section.
Design for failure
What happens with missing data? What changes if the task runs twice? How will the process respond when an external service is unavailable? These questions matter as much as the happy path.
Leave space for people
Useful automation makes decisions understandable. It provides approval, retry and undo at the points that matter. The goal is less uncertainty as well as fewer clicks.