How automatable is the thing you hate doing?
Pick the workflow that makes you sigh. Four sliders, honest answers, and you get a score plus the annual hours and dollars it's quietly eating.
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Automation score
50/100
~0 hrs/yr it takes · ~0 you could get back · $0/yr of that time at your rate
Hours you could get back = the hours it takes a year x the score. That share is my estimate: automation rarely takes over a whole workflow, and the score says how much of this one fits.
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How the score works
Each slider runs from 1 to 10 and carries a weight. The weights are my judgment, not a published formula.
score = (repetitive × 1.25 + rule-based × 1.35 + digital × 1.15 + volume × 0.25) ÷ 40 × 100, rounded
hours a week = 0.5 + (volume - 1) × 9.5 ÷ 9
hours it takes a year = hours a week × 52
hours you could get back = hours a year × score ÷ 100
dollars = hours you could get back × your hourly value
- Rule-based: 1.35, up to 33.75 of 100 points. It counts most because automation runs on rules. A step you can write as "if this, then that" runs without you. A judgment call can't.
- Repetitive: 1.25, up to 31.25 points. A system is built once and pays back each time the steps repeat. Work that changes every time rarely earns back the setup.
- Digital: 1.15, up to 28.75 points. Software can only act on what's in software. Paper and phone calls usually need a person to type them in first.
- Volume: 0.25, up to 6.25 points. Volume sets the hours instead: 1 is half an hour a week, 10 is 10 hours. The hours drive the dollars, so weighting volume heavily would count it twice.
- The share you get back is the score. 85 means 85% of the hours. That's my estimate: automation rarely takes over a whole workflow.
- An hour starts at $50: a placeholder, not a wage figure. Use your own number.
40 is every slider at 10. Sliders start at 1, so the lowest possible score is 10.
A worked example
Say lead intake at a plumbing shop takes two hours every workday: a web form or missed call comes in, someone logs it, texts the customer back, and books the visit. That's 10 hours a week at $50 an hour. The sliders: repetitive 8, rule-based 9, digital 8, volume 10.
- Weighted total: 8 × 1.25 + 9 × 1.35 + 8 × 1.15 + 10 × 0.25 = 33.85.
- Score: 33.85 ÷ 40 × 100 = 84.625, which rounds to 85: automation gold.
- Hours it takes a year: 10 × 52 = 520.
- Hours you could get back: 520 × 0.85 = 442.
- At $50 an hour: 442 × $50 = $22,100 a year of that time.
Open this example in the calculator →
Now keep the 10 hours and change the work: pricing custom remodels, where you judge each job yourself. Set repetitive 4, rule-based 3, digital 4. The score drops to 40, partial automation, with 208 hours back, worth $10,400. Same hours, different work. The 208 hours would come from sending and chasing the quote, not the pricing.
How to read your score
The score says how well the work fits automation. The hours say whether it's worth doing. If two workflows score close, start with the one that eats more hours.
Automation gold
The work fits automation almost end to end. Check the size: a perfect fit at half an hour a week may not be worth a build. If the hours are real, get a fixed quote.
Strong candidate
Most of it can run on its own. Automate the steps around the judgment calls and keep the decisions with you.
Partial automation
Automating all of it would fight you. Pick the repetitive middle, like intake, routing, reminders, and records, and start with one piece.
Low priority
Judgment-heavy, one-off, or still on paper. Don't build a system for it yet. If it lives on paper, moving it into software comes first. Then score it again.
What usually scores high
In a service business, the high scorers are usually the paperwork around the job: the same steps for every customer, clear rules, and already in software.
Lead intake
Every form or missed call logged, answered, and sent a booking link.
Appointment reminders
A text the day before each booking, sent the same way every time.
Invoicing
The invoice goes out when the job closes, and a reminder follows if it's unpaid.
Review requests
The same ask, with your review link, after every finished job.
Quote follow-up
A nudge on day 3 and day 10 until the customer says yes or no.
Data entry between tools
A new customer typed once, then copied to your calendar, CRM, and invoicing.
What scores low is the craft: pricing a custom job, diagnosing a problem on site, calming an upset customer. Automate the steps around it, not the craft.
Next, put your hours and score into the Hire vs. Automate calculator, with the score as the share automation can handle. Add a real build quote to see when it pays for itself. Here's the plumbing example, carried over. For the full method, read the ROI of automation for a small business. If it's mostly data entry, see whether you need a CRM.
Questions people ask
What makes a workflow worth automating? +
Clear rules and repetition. If you can write the steps as if-this-then-that and you do them the same way every week, it's a good candidate. That's why rule-based and repetitive carry the most weight in this score.
Is the dollar figure money I'd save? +
Not by itself. It's the hours you could get back times what you said an hour is worth. It turns into savings only if you stop paying someone for those hours or spend them on paid work.
Is it worth automating a task that takes an hour a week? +
Sometimes. An hour a week is 52 hours a year, $2,600 of time at $50 an hour, and the score says how much could come back. Whether that pays depends on the build cost: check a real quote in the Hire vs. Automate calculator.
What should I automate first? +
The one with the highest score and the most hours. Score each candidate here and start where both numbers are big. Build one, make sure it works, then do the next.
Score 75 or higher?
That workflow is automation gold, and every month it stays manual is another month of those hours done by hand. Fixed-scope build, documented, maintained. Free call, real plan either way.