How to evaluate a workflow automation project before you sign anything
Most SMB workflow automation projects fail in scoping, not in code. Here's a short list of the questions that separate a clean engagement from a money pit.
admin · · 2 min read
Before any consultant writes a line of code for your business, you should be able to answer five questions out loud. If you can't, the engagement isn't ready to scope — and a good consultant will tell you that.
1. What does success look like in concrete terms?
"Faster," "more efficient," "less manual work" are not success criteria. "We currently spend 12 hours/week reconciling supplier invoices manually; this should drop to 2 hours/week" is. The number doesn't have to be perfect — it has to be defensible.
2. Whose work changes?
Workflow automation always moves work — it doesn't make work disappear. Naming the team or role whose day-to-day changes (Accounts Payable, the receptionist, the warehouse lead) tells you who needs to be in the kickoff meeting and who's reviewing the prototype.
3. What's the cost of the current process?
Hours × wage + opportunity cost + error rate × cost per error. You don't need a spreadsheet, but you do need an order of magnitude. A $1,200 problem doesn't justify a $25,000 project. A $120,000 problem does — and changes the conversation about what's worth automating.
4. What's the integration story?
Does this system need to read from QuickBooks? Push to your warehouse management system? Sync with a vendor portal that has no API? Integration determines 60% of the cost on most SMB automation projects — and "we'll figure it out later" is the most expensive answer.
5. Who owns it after we go live?
If the answer is "the consultant," you're buying a future emergency. There's a path to handoff with documentation, training, and a transition retainer — but it needs to be part of the proposal, not a surprise at the end.
What a good scoping conversation looks like
If you've worked through the five questions above and the consultant still wants to start coding before you've agreed on success criteria and the integration story, push back. The right time to write the proposal is after this conversation, not before.
If you want help thinking through a specific workflow at your company, our consulting practice exists exactly for this. The discovery call is free.