Workflow automation

After the offer
Before day one
Day one
First 90 days
  • Runs on its own · 21
  • Still by hand · 6
  • Needs a person, or retired · 9
  • Every new hire set off 36 manual steps, chased by email across 5 offices.
  • I built 11 automations connecting the applicant system, the tracker, Outlook and IT.
21 of 27 stepsthat can be automated now run on their own
53 hiresthrough it since June
63 min savedper new hire
Explore this route

Key decisions

  1. Split the work between Claude and a flow

    Claude checks for new offers twice a day. A flow writes the row.

  2. Nothing runs until a person approves the hire

    A mistake here would reach someone on their first day.

  3. Replaced the AI step with a script

    Managers reply on a fixed template, so a script reads it in 1 to 2 minutes.

Every step (21)
  1. New hires were entered and chased by hand
  2. The flow designer kept failing
  3. Showed the first working automations
  4. Teams meetings can't book a room
  5. Booked rooms through the Graph API
  6. Gave every flow one shared record
  7. The applicant system can't start a flow
  8. Split the work between Claude and a flow
  9. Nothing runs until a person approves the hire
  10. A network filter blocked the first live run
  11. Paused for 12 days instead of relying on a workaround
  12. Fixed it in one session with IT
  13. Connected to the applicant tracking system
  14. Moved the flows into code
  15. The AI step couldn't read managers' replies
  16. Replaced the AI step with a script
  17. Moved into versioned code
  18. One flow failed silently for a week
  19. Every flow now reports its own failures
  20. Colleagues now propose changes
  21. Most of onboarding now runs on its own