The Productivity Flywheel: Clean Up, Then Speed Up

Which came first, the productivity or the automation?  

It's a chicken-and-egg thing, right? 

The organization thinks of productivity improvements and goes right to automation. The automation layers on top of whatever is already existing.... which, frankly, isn't 'productive' or we wouldn't be working on this in the first place.  

You see, automation layered on top of ineffective processes doesn't produce a clean outcome. 

It accelerates the mess. It helps you make mistakes faster! Which, frankly, most of us don't need, thankyouverymuch.  

If we want to talk successful productivity intiative, let's start with a data detox, shall we? 

Starting point: clean up 

Before adding Copilot, Power Automate, or AI tools, you have a few questions to consider. 

Ask yourself about the data you have, is it accurate? Is it stored in the right place? How about duplicate information, do you have any of that?  

Here's a good one: can anyone find it?  

Clean data creates trust. Trust creates adoption. 

Next up: simplify 

Ok, that clean, shiny data is ready for the next step here. After you pulled out the clutter, start to take a good long look at it. Find the unnecessary steps and duplicate efforts.  

Any manual handoffs? Let's stop those in their tracks. Same with outdated workflows. Get rid of them too. Remember, simpler processes are easier to automate. 

Now we can finally automate! 

Take a big deep breath and then exhale. Clean, simplified data is primed up to automate.  

Lots of ways to do that friends. We can power automate, use planner, employ Outlook rules or even forms and approvals. 

And of course, the ever-present-ever-evolving Copilot. Plenty to work with there.  

Automation works best in the presence of a sensible process. 

Take that big deep breath again. Feels good to see that clean data work well, you know? 

As they say, rinse and repeat 

It's now a fun productivity flywheel.  

Cleaner data leads to crisp automation. Better automation creates more time (who doesn't want manufactured time??). More time gives teams a chance to improve processes even more. 

A positive, healthy cycle with a clear path to get there.  

No more chicken-and-egg debate. 

And so it goes. 

Before jumping to the automation portion of the flywheel, ask yourself the first question: 'What should we clean up first?'. 

The answer lies in the question, grasshopper.