Automate Your Busywork

4Refine and Iterate

“To write is human, to edit is divine.”

—Stephen King¹

Sometimes I'm afraid to write.

While I love to tell stories, I occasionally freeze when I face a blank page. And I know I'm not alone. From the memoirs of famous artists and authors to discussion boards populated by blocked writers, it's clear that, at one point or another, almost everyone struggles to overcome the sneaky creative fear author Steven Pressfield refers to as “resistance.”² Over the years, I've learned that (1) you just have to take a deep breath and get started, and (2) everything is easier once you have a first draft—no matter how bumpy it may be.

In the previous two sections, you built the rough drafts of your workflow automations. You crossed the chasm between idea and implementation. You overcame resistance, broke down the steps, and replaced manual labor with inexhaustible technology. Well done. Now it's time to examine how your workflows are performing.

Think of it like assessing a first draft: How does the automation flow? Are there steps where the logic breaks down or you keep getting stuck? Is it achieving the goals you established?

Refinement is a process of establishing feedback systems that deliver insights so you can continually improve the workflows—without starting from scratch each time. That's exactly what we'll do next.

REFINE: Measure What Matters

Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1909, Peter Drucker was a celebrated academic, journalist, management consultant, and the ...