TOOL · 02 · AI
2 MINUTES · NO SIGNUP
Automation ROI Calc.
Plug in volume, time per task, and cost. Get the payback window for an AI or workflow automation in months — not gut feel.
INPUTSSTEP 1 OF 2
How many times per week the workflow runs today. Count human-handled instances — automated steps don't pay back.
TASKS
Average minutes a person spends on one instance. Include context-switching and review time, not just hands-on-keyboard.
MIN
Salary + benefits + overhead, hourly. $50 is a reasonable proxy for a US ops generalist; $100+ for senior or specialist work.
$
One-time engineering + design cost to ship the automation. Include eval harness, monitoring, and the buffer for the first round of fixes.
$
Model API + tooling + hosting per month. For pure-code workflows this can be near zero; for LLM-heavy ones it scales with volume.
$
Share of runs that succeed without human rework. 95% is a strong target; below 80% the savings model collapses fast.
%
RESULT · PAYBACK PERIODSTEP 2 OF 2
MONTHS TO PAYBACK
4.0 MO
Verdict: SHIP
$5K
MONTHLY SAVINGS
103
HOURS / MONTH
$39K
YEAR-1 NET
WHAT THIS MEANS
Payback in under 6 months. Scope it tight, ship a prototype this quarter, instrument cost and error rate from day one.
NOTES · WEEKLY
The 7-question scope I run before every automation engagement.
What I ask in week one to avoid building the wrong thing — plus the three failure modes that kill 80% of automation projects before they hit production.
Got a workflow worth scoping?
I scope and ship workflow automation for ops teams. Diagnostic, build, handoff.
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