Auditing Your Current Workflow

You Can't Improve What You Don't Measure

Before building an AI workflow, you need to understand your current one. Where does your time go? What's repetitive? What frustrates you? This audit reveals the opportunities.

Week-Long Time Tracking

Track one typical week:

Create a simple log (spreadsheet or notes app):

• Date/Time
• Task
• Duration
• Tool used
• Repetitive? (Y/N)
• Could AI help? (Maybe)

Example entries:

Mon 9am | Email triage | 45min | Gmail | Y | Maybe
Mon 10am | Client proposal | 2hr | Google Docs | N | Maybe (template)
Mon 1pm | Data entry | 30min | Spreadsheet | Y | Yes

Track everything for 5 work days.

Takes discipline, but the insights are gold.

Categorizing Your Tasks

After tracking, categorize everything:

High-value work (strategic, creative, relationship-building):

• Strategy and planning
• Creative work
• Client relationships
• Team collaboration
• Learning and development

Medium-value work (necessary but not differentiating):

• Responding to routine emails
• Status updates
• Scheduling
• Research and information gathering

Low-value work (repetitive, could be automated):

• Email sorting and filtering
• Data entry
• Copy-pasting between systems
• Formatting documents
• Routine scheduling

Goal: Minimize low-value, automate medium-value, focus on high-value.

The Repetition Test

Which tasks do you repeat?

Go through your time log. Mark tasks you've done more than once this week with similar steps.

Examples of repetitive tasks:

• Daily email triage
• Weekly status reports
• Monthly invoice creation
• Onboarding new clients (same steps)
• Social media posts
• Meeting notes and summaries

If you do it more than weekly, it's worth automating.

Tool Ecosystem Mapping

List every tool you use:

Create a simple list:

• Email (Gmail, Outlook, etc.)
• Calendar
• Project management (Asana, Trello, etc.)
• Documents (Google Docs, Office 365)
• Communication (Slack, Teams)
• CRM
• Others

For each tool, note:

• How often you use it
• What tasks you do in it
• Does it integrate with other tools?
• Could AI enhance it?

Example:

Gmail:
- Use: Daily, 2-3hrs total
- Tasks: Read, respond, organize
- Integrations: Calendar, Drive
- AI opportunity: Email sorting, draft responses, summarization

Workflow Mapping

Pick your 3 most common workflows. Map them.

Example: Client Onboarding Workflow

1. Receive inquiry (Email)
2. Send welcome email with questions (Email - manual)
3. Schedule discovery call (Calendar - manual)
4. Take notes during call (Notes app)
5. Create proposal (Google Docs)
6. Send proposal (Email)
7. Follow up if no response (Email - manual after 3 days)
8. Create project in PM tool (Asana)
9. Send welcome packet (Email with attachments)

Now identify:

• Manual steps (could be automated?)
• Copy-paste between tools
• Waiting time
• Repetitive writing/formatting

Highlight automation opportunities in yellow.

Pain Point Identification

What frustrates you most?

Review your week. What made you think:

• "Why am I doing this again?"
• "This should be automated"
• "I waste so much time on this"
• "There must be a better way"

Common pain points:

• Email overload
• Switching between tools constantly
• Copy-pasting data between systems
• Reformatting content for different platforms
• Finding information scattered across tools
• Repetitive writing (same type of emails, reports)

Your pain points = automation opportunities.

Calculating Time Waste

Add up time spent on repetitive, low-value tasks:

From your time log:

• Email sorting: 3 hrs/week
• Routine email responses: 2 hrs/week
• Status reports: 1 hr/week
• Data entry: 1.5 hrs/week
• Formatting documents: 1 hr/week

Total: 8.5 hours per week

If you automate 50%, that's 4+ hours back per week.

That's 200+ hours per year.

Quick Wins vs. Long-Term Projects

Categorize opportunities:

Quick wins (implement this week):

• Email filters and labels
• Email templates for common responses
• Calendar scheduling links
• Text expansion for common phrases

Medium effort (implement this month):

• AI email drafting workflow
• Meeting notes automation
• Document template library
• Research workflow with AI

Long-term (build over time):

• Full workflow automation (tool connections)
• Custom AI assistants
• Knowledge management system

Start with quick wins while planning the big changes.

The 80/20 Analysis

Where does 80% of your time go?

Look at your time log. You'll likely find:

• 80% of time on 20% of task types
• 80% of frustration from 20% of processes
• 80% of repetition in 20% of workflows

Focus automation efforts on that 20%.

Workflow Audit Template

Use this template:

1. Time Inventory

• Total work hours tracked: ___
• High-value work: ___ hours (___%)
• Medium-value work: ___ hours (___%)
• Low-value work: ___ hours (___%)

2. Repetitive Tasks (list each):

• Task: ___
• Frequency: ___
• Time per instance: ___
• Total weekly time: ___
• Automation potential: Low/Medium/High

3. Tool Usage:

• Primary tools: (list)
• Tools that don't integrate well: (list)
• Tools you switch between constantly: (list)

4. Top 3 Pain Points:

1. ---

2. ---

3. ---

5. Automation Opportunities (prioritized):

• Quick wins: (list)
• Medium effort: (list)
• Long-term: (list)

6. Time Savings Goal:

• Current low-value time: ___ hrs/week
• Target reduction: ___% (realistic: 30-50%)
• Hours to reclaim: ___ hrs/week

What to Look for in the Audit

High-frequency + Low-value = Automate immediately

• Daily email sorting? Automate.
• Weekly status reports? Automate.
• Routine scheduling? Automate.

High-value + Time-consuming = Enhance with AI

• Strategy work: Use AI for research, brainstorming
• Creative work: Use AI to overcome blocks, generate options
• Client work: Use AI to prepare, draft, refine

One-time tasks = Don't automate

• Save your time for repeated processes

Real-World Examples

Example 1: Marketing Manager Audit
Found:

• 5 hrs/week on social media posting (repetitive)
• 3 hrs/week responding to routine DMs
• 2 hrs/week creating similar graphics

Opportunities:

• Batch content creation with AI
• Template responses for common DMs
• Reuse AI-generated graphics framework

Example 2: Project Manager Audit
Found:

• 4 hrs/week on status reports (same format)
• 3 hrs/week in meetings taking notes
• 2 hrs/week organizing tasks from emails

Opportunities:

• Auto-generate status reports from PM tool
• AI meeting transcription and summaries
• Email→task automation

Example 3: Sales Rep Audit
Found:

• 6 hrs/week on follow-up emails (repetitive)
• 2 hrs/week researching prospects
• 3 hrs/week updating CRM

Opportunities:

• AI-drafted follow-ups (personalize and send)
• AI prospect research summaries
• Auto-log emails to CRM

Common Audit Findings

Most people discover:

• 20-30% of time on repetitive tasks
• 5-10 high-frequency automation opportunities
• 2-3 major workflow inefficiencies
• Several tools doing overlapping things
• Significant time lost to context switching

Your findings will vary, but patterns emerge.

After the Audit

You'll have:

• Clear picture of time allocation
• Prioritized list of automation opportunities
• Understanding of your tool ecosystem
• Baseline to measure improvements against

Next module: We'll identify specific automation opportunities and start building.