The 5x rule: if a task or question comes up five times a month, it’s a candidate for automation

Azeem Azhar writes:

We’ve started applying a simple heuristic: if a task, or even a question, comes up five times a month, it’s a candidate for automation. This “5x rule” helps spot patterns hiding in plain sight and forces you to think in systems rather than routines. This habit sets the expectation that workflows should evolve constantly, not calcify.

Of course, we now ask the question “what do we do five times a month” more than five times a month, making that a candidate for automation.

I'll add:

1. When something comes up five times a month, consider it for automation, but also consider other ways to systematically improve quality or reduce cost. Many recurring tasks can be done better or cheaper with better affordances, written guidelines, delegation, etc.
2. This rule made sense before generative AI. Many tasks can be automated with deterministic logic, using code or no-code tools like Zapier or Make.

I recommend the full (paywalled) blog post.