Most people think of automation as a cold, technical exercise in logic. But for me, building a system is an act of observation. My background in film and storytelling didn’t just teach me how to frame a shot; it trained my creative muscle to notice the small details that others miss – the patterns, and the inconsistencies.
Today, that same discipline of paying attention is what allows me to design workflows that actually work for the people running them.
1. Attention as a Creative Muscle
In filmmaking, specifically when creating documentaries, attention is your primary tool. You have to be hyper-attentive not just to what your subjects say, but to what they don’t say. You are looking for the subtext – the subtle shift in tone or the hesitation that reveals the real story.
In the world of operations, this “noticing” is just as vital. It’s about spotting the bottlenecks that reveal a system’s true capacity limits, rather than just fixing the surface-level annoyances that happen when you have time to babysit the process. It’s about recognizing when a workflow depends on implicit knowledge – the things a founder knows but has never documented, which creates a single point of failure.
2. The Bridge
The bridge between creative observation and operational clarity is pattern recognition. In a script, you look for narrative loops; in a business, you look for open loops.
When I look at a client’s workflow, I often notice a critical detail they miss: the urge to automate a task that actually requires augmentation.
Not all Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) can or should be supported by full automation. Many require human intervention – checking for nuance, taste, or context. My job is to see where the human thread must remain intact and where the mechanical edges can be safely handed off to a machine.
3. Noticing as a Daily Practice
To build a reliable system, you have to pause long enough to see what is actually happening, not just what you wish was happening.
- Identify Repeated Decisions: If you find yourself thinking through the same decision every week, your system lacks a decision model.
- Spot Double-Handling: Look for where you touch data more than once – copying, reformatting, or re-entering information. These are the simplest friction points to close.
- Watch for Avoidance: If you’ve built a tool that you instinctively bypass, that is the strongest signal of overengineering.
4. Why Attention Leads to Better Decisions
When you practice the discipline of paying attention, you trade noise for signal. You stop reacting to “annoyances” and start closing fundamental workflow gaps.
This leads to more grounded action because you aren’t guessing; you are diagnosing. By noticing where work stalls when you’re busy or where clients are blocked until you act, you can replace “wait for me” moments with clear rules and automation.
Designing for the outcome requires the stable logic of an observer. When you pay attention to the details, you build a system that moves even when you’re offline, allowing your business and your creativity to finally breathe.