Write a plain description anyone could read

Next to every automation, keep a short description written in plain language — what it does, what it touches, and what happens if it fails. No technical terms, no assumption that the reader built it.

This matters because the person who eventually has to troubleshoot an automation is often not the person who built it. It might be a new hire, a virtual assistant, or you months later after you have forgotten the details. A clear description means that person can understand the automation's purpose in a minute instead of reverse-engineering it from scratch while a client waits on the other end of a broken process. I write these descriptions assuming the reader is a future version of me who has forgotten every detail.

Keep it to a few sentences. If you cannot explain it simply, that is often a sign the automation itself has grown too complicated.

Try this today: write a plain-language description for your one automation that would be hardest for someone else to figure out cold.