Run This Playbook Before Automating Anything
When I start working with a new client, I'm never walking in with a preset, one-size-fits-all solution. I'm showing up the way a doctor does before making a diagnosis; asking questions, listening carefully, and trying to piece together the most accurate picture I can before recommending anything.
Active listening is more of the job than most people expect. I use Granola to record and transcribe every working session not because I'm lazy, but because if I'm taking notes, I'm not fully present. The best audits I've done have been conversations, not interrogations.
Those conversations almost always reveal something the client didn't expect to find.
First, let's clear something up
When most people hear "systems audit," they picture a big IT project run by a team of consultants, spanning weeks of interviews and deliverables and expensive reports.
That's not what I'm talking about.
A practical systems audit for a small business is something any founder or operator can do, with or without outside help, in a focused afternoon or two. It doesn't require a technical background and it doesn't require special software. It just requires a willingness to look honestly at how your business actually operates, not how you think it does.
Here's how to do it.
Step 1: Map your processes
Start here before you touch anything else.
Open a Google Doc, Word doc, Notion page; anywhere you can write and save it for reference later. Copy and paste the Five W's as many times as you need:
Who does this process involve, and who does it affect?
What actually happens, step by step?
When does it run? Is it triggered by an event, a schedule, or a manual decision?
Where does it fit in the larger flow of your operations? And where does the work actually happen (i.e. which tools/software are used)?
Why does it exist? What would break if it didn't happen?
Now start filling it in, one process at a time. Do it for every repeatable workflow, every recurring task, and everything that happens with any regularity in your business. Pick the easiest ones first, build some momentum, and keep going.
A quick pass always beats doing nothing. It's better to map ten processes imperfectly than to wait until you have time to do it perfectly, which, for most small business owners, means it never happens.
Another question worth asking for each process: who built this, and when? You'd be surprised how often a process was designed by someone who left the company years ago and has been handed down through "generations of employees" since.
Understanding the history of why a process was implemented in the first place and how long it's been running the way it does often changes the direction of the solution. Sometimes the right answer isn't to optimize the process; it's to replace it entirely. Fresh eyes are valuable precisely because they're not attached to "how we've always done it."
Step 2: Audit your tech stack
Once you know your processes, look at what you're paying for.
Make a list of every tool and software subscription your business currently has. If you have to, go through your bank or credit card statements. You'll almost certainly find something you forgot about. For each one, ask:
What does this tool actually do?
Are we actively using it?
Is it worth what we're paying for it?
Does it overlap with anything else in our stack?
Then start connecting the dots: how do these tools fit into the processes you just mapped? Are there places where something useful is missing? Are there places where two tools are doing the same job?
Step 3: Do the math
This is the step many people skip, and the one that surprises them most when they actually do it.
Take any process from your list. How long does it take each time it runs? How often does it run? Multiply those numbers out to a weekly and monthly total. Now look at who's doing it and what their time is worth.
Almost universally, clients are surprised by how much time things actually take. Not any one process in particular, but the bigger picture. The five minutes here, the ten minutes there, the fifteen-minute task that runs every single day. Nobody's adding it all up regularly, but when I do that math for them, it's almost always eye-opening.
This is where last week's newsletter on automation ROI connects directly. The numbers only become real when someone actually runs them.
Step 4: Build your roadmap
Now you have what you need to make real decisions.
Based on everything you've uncovered to this point, ask yourself:
What processes are strong as-is and just need to be documented?
What's a good candidate for automation (i.e. frequent, manual, and repeatable)?
What's creating unnecessary complexity and could be simplified or cut entirely?
What tools are earning their place, and which ones aren't?
You don't need to solve everything at once. The roadmap is just a prioritized list of what to tackle first, second, and third. Even a rough one is infinitely more useful than no plan at all.
What you walk away with
If you work through all four steps you'll have three things most small businesses don't:
A process map that reflects how your business actually operates, documented in plain language anyone on your team can follow. When helpful, you can pair it with a simple visual, like a flowchart diagram that shows the sequence at a glance. Some people absorb information better visually, and a one-page diagram can communicate in seconds what a written doc takes minutes to convey.
A tech catalog that gives you a clear, honest view of what you're paying for and what you're actually getting from it.
A roadmap that turns the audit into a plan, so the work you just did actually goes somewhere.
One last important note: this isn't a one-time exercise. Your processes will evolve, your team will change, and new tools will come into play. A quick revisit every six months or so, even just an hour to check that everything is still current, is worth building into your calendar before you need it.
That combination puts you in a fundamentally stronger position to automate the right things, cut what isn't working, and build systems that actually scale.
Before we wrap
If you could only document one process in your business this week, which one would it be? Drop it in the comments. I'd love to hear what comes to mind first.
And if you want someone to come in and do this work with you, that's exactly what I do. Book a free discovery call at processpowerup.co/schedule-a-call.
See you next week!
— Andrew