If the same exception hits your inbox every morning, that’s not a people problem — it’s a systems gap. Hiring more operators to babysit broken handoffs only scales the pain.
Watch for delayed status updates, retyped data between tools, and meetings that exist only to reconcile numbers. Those are automation candidates with measurable ROI.
When you can name the owner, the trigger, and the outcome of a workflow, you’re ready to automate it. If you can’t, fix ownership first.