Mapping a Process Before You Build

The urge is to open the platform and start connecting things. Resist it for ten minutes. Mapping first is the cheapest debugging you will ever do.

Write it as trigger, steps, outcome

1. Trigger — the exact event that starts this. Not 'when we get a lead' but 'when the contact form is submitted'
2. Steps — each one a single action starting with a verb, in order
3. Decision points — written as 'if X, then Y, otherwise Z'
4. Outcome — what 'done' looks like, specifically enough that you could check it
5. Failure — what should happen when a step does not work

Hunt for the word 'depends'

Every time you write or say 'it depends', you have found either a decision point that needs an explicit rule, or a judgement call that must stay human. Both are fine. What is not fine is discovering it halfway through building.

Make the rule explicit or mark the step as human. Do not leave it vague and hope the automation guesses.

Test your map against real history

Take the last ten times this process actually ran and walk each one through your map. The ones that do not fit are your edge cases — and you have found them on paper instead of in production.

If eight of ten fit, automate for those eight and route the rest to a human. Trying to handle every case is how a simple automation becomes an unmaintainable one.

Decide what the automation is allowed to do

Write down, explicitly, the boundaries: which systems it can write to, what it must never touch, and which steps require approval before proceeding.

This becomes your safety specification. It is much easier to write before you are attached to a working build.

TRIGGER: Contact form submitted on the website

STEPS:
1. Create a row in the Leads sheet (name, email, message, timestamp)
2. Summarise the message in one sentence
3. Classify as: pricing / support / partnership / other
4. If pricing → notify sales channel immediately
   Otherwise → add to the daily digest
5. Draft a first reply and save it as a draft

OUTCOME: Row exists, correctly classified, draft waiting for a human

FAILURE: Any step fails → alert me, do not retry silently

BOUNDARIES:
- Never sends anything to the customer directly
- Never edits existing rows, only appends