Reducing the risk of automation.
WHAT AUTOMATION MULTIPLIES
Both correct work and mistakes.
WHAT TO BUILD IN
A reporting mode that acts on nothing Limits on how much a single run may affect Confirmation for anything destructive Logging of everything changed
THE LIMIT POINT
A script that can affect every record will, eventually, when given wrong input.
Bound it.
WHAT TO TEST WITH
Representative data, including awkward cases.
WHAT TO RUN FIRST
Against a copy, not production.
WHAT TO KEEP
A record of what each run changed, so it can be reversed.
WHAT TO AVOID
Automation with access it does not need Credentials with broader permissions than required
THAT SECOND POINT
Give automation its own credentials, limited to what it does.
Never a person's.
WHAT TO MONITOR
That it ran, and that its output is plausible.
WHAT TO REVIEW
Periodically, whether it is still needed and still correct.
WHAT TO DECOMMISSION
Automation nobody relies on, which still runs and still consumes.
