Workflow Audit — The Friction X-Ray

Transform client conversations into a structured automation blueprint with hard ROI numbers. This is the deliverable for a diagnostic engagement.

When to Use

• Client shares a meeting transcript describing their operations
• Client describes manual processes, spreadsheet workflows, or tool-switching pain
• You're conducting a discovery call and need structured output
• Pre-sales: building the business case for a DynoClaw deployment

Input

The user provides one or more of:

• Meeting transcript (Fathom, Otter, pasted text)
• Description of current workflows and pain points
• List of tools/systems in use
• Team size and roles involved

If insufficient context, ask targeted discovery questions:

1. "What's the ugliest spreadsheet your team updates every week?"
2. "Where is your team copy-pasting data between two screens?"
3. "What breaks when a key person goes on vacation?"
4. "If you got 50 new clients tomorrow, which department collapses first?"
5. "What does your team do on Saturday mornings that should've been done Friday?"

Processing Steps

Step 1 — Map the Current State

For each workflow mentioned, document:

• Process name (e.g., "Weekly Executive Report", "Invoice Reconciliation")
• Trigger — what starts this process
• Steps — numbered sequence of actions
• People involved — roles, not just names
• Tools used — every system touched (CRM, spreadsheet, email, ERP, etc.)
• Frequency — how often this runs
• Time spent — estimated hours per occurrence
• Error rate — how often it goes wrong and what the consequences are

Step 2 — Score Each Workflow (Friction Matrix)

Rate each workflow on two dimensions:

Volume (1-10): How often does this run?

• 1-3: Monthly or less
• 4-6: Weekly
• 7-10: Daily or continuous

Cost of Error (1-10): What happens when it breaks?

• 1-3: Minor inconvenience, easy to fix
• 4-6: Delayed deliverables, client impact
• 7-10: Financial loss, compliance risk, customer churn

Friction Score = Volume x Cost of Error (max 100)

Step 3 — Quantify the Waste

For each high-scoring workflow, calculate:

• Hours/week wasted = (time per occurrence) x (frequency)
• Annual cost = hours/week x 50 weeks x (blended hourly rate, default $45/hr for ops staff, $75/hr for senior staff)
• Error cost = (error rate) x (cost per error) x (annual occurrences)
• Total annual waste = labor cost + error cost

Step 4 — Design the Automation