I often realize I’m doing repetitive tasks that could easily be automated. Money transfers, reminders, invoices-these are simple, low-effort activities that don’t deserve to consume my time. Every time this happens, I tell myself, “I should automate this to save time and mental effort.” And yet, somehow, I don’t. I tell myself I have no time to automate.

In IT, especially when automating mainframe processes, we encounter the same hesitation:

“We don’t need to automate this; once it’s done, we’ll never do it again.”

Which almost never turns out to be true.

Repetitive tasks-whether personal or IT-related-are often simple to automate but remain manual due to perceived time constraints.

In IT, automation is critical. It reduces manual errors, improves consistency, and frees up time for more strategic work.

A Shift in Mindset

Automation requires a different engineering mindset. Instead of the familiar cycle:

Do → Fix → Fix → Fix

We move to:

Engineer process → Run process / Fix process → Run process → Run process

Once engineered, automated processes run with minimal intervention, saving both time and effort.

When to Automate

If you find yourself performing a task more than twice, consider automating it. Whether through shell scripting, JCL, utilities, or tools like Ansible, automation quickly pays off.

Automation is not optional-it’s essential for efficient IT operations and professional growth. Start automating today to work smarter, not harder.

Don’t waste time doing things more than twice. If you do something for the third time, automate it-you’ll likely have to do it a fourth or fifth time as well.

Automate everything.