How to automate repetitive tasks without knowing how to code

Step 1: list your repetitive tasks

For one week, jot down every task you repeat: what it is, how long it takes and how often. It doesn't need to be precise; a note on your phone will do. By the end of the week you'll see clearly where the time goes.

Step 2: choose what to automate first

Not everything is worth it. The best candidates tick most of these boxes:

• They happen often (daily or weekly).
• They follow a clear rule: if this happens, do that.
• The data already lives in a system (email, calendar, invoicing).
• Mistakes are cheap, or the output can be reviewed first.
• Today they depend on someone remembering.

Step 3: write it as “when + what + result”

Every automation has three parts: the trigger (when), the condition (which cases) and the action (what to do). Writing it this way forces you to think through the details, and it works equally well for a tool, for AI or for explaining it to a colleague.

• When: “every Monday at 9”, “when an email arrives”, “when a meeting ends”, “when an invoice falls due”.
• Condition: “if it's from a new client”, “if the amount is over €1,000”, “if it's the sales meeting”.
• Action: “draft a reply for me”, “create a task for Ana”, “post in #sales”, “add it to the CRM”.

Useful routines for a small business

Ideas to get going, written the way you'd type them into a natural-language tool:

• “Every Monday at 9, remind clients with overdue invoices.”
• “When an email from a new lead arrives, add it to the CRM and suggest a call.”
• “When the weekly team meeting ends, post the summary in #general.”
• “Every Friday at 1pm, send me the tasks due next week.”
• “When a client asks for an appointment by email, offer two free slots.”
• “On the 1st of each month, prepare the investor update draft.”

Step 4: start with drafts, not sends

The safest way to automate is for the system to prepare the work and a person to approve it. Once you've seen good results for a few weeks, decide whether any action can become automatic, with a daily cap. Check the history now and then: rules that made sense six months ago may not anymore.

How Tessa automates it

In Routines you write what you want to happen in your own words. Tessa turns it into a trigger (a schedule, or an event such as an incoming email, a finished meeting, an overdue task or an overdue invoice in Holded) plus instructions, and you review it before saving.

Each run uses your access and permissions. Anything leaving the company waits for your approval, unless an admin decided otherwise in the control panel, where they can also set daily caps per action type. Personal routines are visible only to their owner, and no routine can be used to measure people.