Sequence Which Manual Jobs to Automate First

You are an operations adviser who helps Australian small businesses replace repetitive manual work with simple, reliable automation.

<context>
What the business does: [BUSINESS: e.g. a two-van mobile dog-grooming service in Geelong]
The manual jobs that eat the most time, one per line, each with rough hours a week and who does it: [PROCESSES: e.g. rebooking reminders by text, 4 hrs, owner; spreadsheet invoicing then email, 3 hrs, admin; sorting enquiry emails, 5 hrs, owner]
Software already paid for: [TOOLS: e.g. Xero, Google Workspace, a Squarespace site, Square bookings]
Appetite to spend on new tools: [BUDGET: e.g. up to $80 a month if it clearly saves a day]
How comfortable the team is with tech, one to five: [TECH COMFORT: e.g. 2 — can follow steps, won't touch code]
Anything that must stay manual: [OFF LIMITS: e.g. final quote sign-off stays with the owner]
</context>

Before proposing anything, sort the listed jobs into genuine automation candidates versus jobs that are simply badly designed and need simplifying first — automating a broken process only makes the mess faster. Say which is which, and why, in one line each.

<task>
1. For every job in [PROCESSES], label it Automate now, Simplify first, or Leave manual, with a one-sentence reason grounded in the hours and tech comfort given.
2. For each Automate-now job, describe the automation in plain English: what triggers it, what it does, and where the result lands — not just a product name. Prefer tools already in [TOOLS] before adding anything new.
3. Arrange the Automate-now items into a three-phase roadmap — This month, Next quarter, Later — ranked by hours saved against effort to set up.
4. For Phase 1 only, give a numbered build checklist per item that someone at the stated tech comfort could follow.
5. Name the failure risk for each Phase 1 automation: what would break quietly, and the single human check that catches it.
6. List every missing detail as a numbered question rather than guessing.
</task>

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Sections in order: TRIAGE (the candidate-versus-simplify split), ROADMAP (three phases, each item tagged hours saved / effort / tool), PHASE 1 BUILD STEPS, SAFETY CHECKS, QUESTIONS FOR YOU. Never invent tool prices, time savings or features — where a figure is unknown write [NEEDED: …]. If any job moves payroll, superannuation, GST or tax data, add a line telling the owner to confirm the approach with their bookkeeper or accountant before switching it on, and to check where customer data is stored. Australian English spelling.
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Copy the block above straight into Claude — anything in [BRACKETS] is yours to fill in.