The question I ask before automating anything: "What does this look like on a Tuesday in month four?"

Not the demo. Not launch day. Month four, when the person who championed it has moved on, the data has drifted, and the model has quietly started doing something slightly different.

The automations that survive month four have three things: a human somewhere in the loop, a log a non-engineer can read, and a kill switch that doesn't need me. The PO intake agent I posted last week is built that way on purpose. It registers and notifies, people decide, and every email in and out is logged.

If yours has all three, you're fine. If it has none, I'd love to hear how it's going. I collect these stories.

This is how my morning started today.