Steps
- Open
hire-worksheet-template.csvin a spreadsheet. - List every task the role would actually do in a normal week. Be specific, not "handle invoicing" but each separate task inside it.
- For each task, mark it "follows a rule" or "needs judgment." A rule task has one right way to do it every time. A judgment task depends on the situation.
- For every rule task, ask: can this be automated now, or does the input need cleaning up first (a messy spreadsheet, no standard format)? Write that in the notes column. Don't hire for a rule task just because nobody's automated it yet.
- For every judgment task, write down what's actually being decided. This is the part a hire is for.
- Look at what's left in the judgment column. If it's a few hours a week, you may not need a hire yet, just a clearer process. If it's most of a working week, that's a real role.
hire-worksheet-example-filled.csv shows this run once, on a fictional role, so you can see the sort before you do your own.
Why this order
Hiring someone to do a messy process by hand doesn't fix the mess. It puts a person between you and the mess, permanently. They learn the workarounds, the process never gets written down, and when they leave you train the next person on the same broken thing. Automate what follows a rule first. Write down what's left. Then hire for that, not for the mess.