Automation diagnostic

The Five Dysfunctions of Automation

A practical diagnostic for the handoffs that make automation unreliable. When systems use different rules for meaning, authority, state, time, and repeatability, work breaks.

Use it for any workflow that crosses systems.

Examples include work order status updates, field inspections, asset changes, finance postings, service requests, and GIS corrections. The five checks below show what must be clear before automation acts.

Five checks before the workflow acts.

Click any check to see the symptom, risk, and fix. The goal is controlled movement, not faster confusion.

The Five Dysfunctions of Automation diagram A diagram showing System A and System B with messy handoffs between them, followed by five checks: Meaning, Authority, State, Time, and Repeatability. The cure is model-driven automation: Model, Compare, Act, and Audit. DIFFERENTDATA DIFFERENTRULES MANUALHANDOFFS SILOEDTEAMS TRIBALKNOWLEDGE THE IN-BETWEEN Where integrations fail and work gets messy. 1 MEANING Systems do not agree on what things mean. Fix Shared objects + mappings 2 AUTHORITY No one agrees which system is the source. Fix Declare system of record 3 STATE Systems disagree where work is in its lifecycle. Fix Orchestrate lifecycle states 4 TIME Systems disagree on when something is true. Fix Respect the right time 5 REPEATABILITY The process cannot be safely run again. Fix Same request, same result

The fix is not another script. It is a model that governs the action.

Model-driven automation makes the rules explicit. It compares records, applies authority, respects lifecycle and timing, then executes and audits the outcome.

Model Compare Act Audit

Start with one workflow that keeps breaking.

Pick the handoff that creates the most rework: a status update, field completion, asset change, finance posting, or reporting gap. Then test it against the five checks.

Review a workflow Explore the platform