Companion Sheet: Agent, Automation, Assist, Leave Alone
Vieews operator layer
Agent, Automation, Assist, Leave Alone
A meeting-ready triage sheet for deciding what kind of AI intervention a workflow actually needs.
Use this in one working session
This companion sheet is the meeting tool for Agent or Not?. It helps a team take 5 to 10 AI ideas, pilots, or live workflows and classify each one as Agent, Automation, Assist, or Leave Alone.
It is not a job-loss model. It is a workflow triage tool. Use it to see whether AI changes the task, the workflow, the decision rights, or nothing yet.
The decision tree
- Is this a real workflow, not just a single task?
- Does the workflow require judgment under ambiguity?
- Does it need to act across systems or tools?
- Is there a named owner, measurable outcome, and human fallback?
- Would autonomy create clear value in cost, speed, quality, risk, or scale?
If yes to all five, it may deserve Agent. If not, classify it as Automation, Assist, or Leave Alone.
The table to fill
| Field | What to capture |
|---|---|
| Workflow name | What work is being changed? |
| Portfolio call | Keep | Fix | Stop | Unknown from Digital Work Portfolio. |
| Owner | Who owns the outcome? |
| Current state | Idea | pilot | live. |
| Ambiguity level | Low | medium | high. |
| Acts across systems? | Yes | no. |
| Failure reversibility | Easy / moderate | hard. |
| Baseline metric | What number should move? |
| Human work impact | No change | less manual effort | exception shift | human approval | role redesign likely | training needed. |
| Verdict | Agent | Automation | Assist | Leave Alone. |
| Decision | Scale | Fix | Pause / Kill. |
Example verdicts
Automation
Standard user access request with fixed routing and approval rules.
Assist
ERP training knowledge assistant that answers questions from approved SharePoint content.
Agent
Service entitlement and parts planning workflow that checks multiple systems and prepares approval-ready recommendations.
Leave Alone
Duplicated local spreadsheet tracker with no owner, no baseline, and no clear value.
Free member downloads
Get the editable Agent or Not? pack
Use the working files to run 5 to 10 AI ideas through the triage in one session.
