Automation

What it means

An automation is a workflow that runs by itself when something happens. You set it up once. After that, you do not have to start it each time.

The "something" is called a trigger. It can be a new email, a form being filled in, a message in a channel, or a time of day, such as 8 a.m. every Monday. When the trigger happens, the steps run in order.

In a chat, you type a prompt and get one answer. An automation works without a new prompt from you.

An example from work

Imagine a support lead who spends many hours in meetings. Every morning she scrolls back through dozens of Slack messages. Instead, she sets up an automation. Each weekday at 8 a.m., the AI reads the channels she is a member of and writes a short summary.

To let AI reach Slack, she can use MCP, a connector that lets AI use your apps, such as Drive, Slack or Notion. When she opens her laptop, the catch-up is waiting.

What to watch for

• Check the results at the start. An automation repeats a mistake as easily as good work.
• Limit what it can reach. Give it only the channels, folders or apps it needs.
• Keep a person in the loop for anything sent to customers or colleagues.
• Review it now and then. If your process changes, it will not notice.