MYTH: "Automate it first to save time."

MYTH: "Automate it first to save time."
The correction: automate the third time, not the first. Automating an unstable process just bakes the bugs in faster.

SOP: Automation readiness gate
Run this whenever someone proposes to script a manual task.

Stage 1 — Stability check
— ☐ Has this run manually 3+ times with the same steps? If no, run it manually again. (Owner: requester)
— ☐ Are the inputs and outputs fixed, or still changing weekly? (Owner: requester)

Stage 2 — Math
— ☐ Time per run × runs per year vs build + maintenance hours. (Owner: requester)
— ☐ If maintenance exceeds saved time, stop. Keep it manual. (Owner: reviewer)

Stage 3 — Guardrail
— ☐ Define what the automation must NOT touch on failure. (Owner: builder)
— ☐ Name who gets paged when it breaks at 2am. (Owner: builder)

Owner: requester. Trigger: a manual task hits its third repeat. Done-when: stable process, positive math, named on-call.

Save this. Run it every time.