One thing I noticed is that knowing how things can be automated causes teams to actually get slower at getting stuff done. First, because automation takes some

One thing I noticed is that knowing how things can be automated causes teams to actually get slower at getting stuff done. First, because automation takes some upfront effort to get done. Second, because once it is set up it frequently acts to prevent change. I find it is useful to consider alternative solutions to the problem like a checklist (which I call a program that runs on people) which allows you to set up a process in minutes (+ potentially a meeting with your team) and then get back to the project. Once the project has been running for some time you will be in a better position to automate it. First, you will already have some experience with running the process (with the checklist). And second you can plan the task of automating at lower priority and without it becoming a blocker in your more important project. Yes, it is considered technical debt. Not all debt is bad.