Automate repetitive work
A reference page for cohort participants mapping how Energy Flow Academy thinks about safe, maintainable automation—not a product pitch.
Task discovery matrix
Plot tasks by frequency and blast radius before writing code. High frequency + low blast radius becomes your first script candidate; high blast radius tasks earn governance review first.
Frequency (high)
│
│ [Quick wins] [Needs design]
│ CLI/batch Pair with staff engineer
├────────────────────────────────── Blast radius (low → high)
│ [Defer/monitor] [Policy + kill switch]
│ Manual for now Dashboard + approvals
v
Script lifecycle
- Inventory inputs/outputs with sample files (redacted).
- Draft dry-run mode and logging before touching production paths.
- Peer review with a checklist: secrets, idempotency, rollback note.
- Schedule with observability hooks (log query or dashboard link).
- Quarterly retire/replace review—delete scripts that no longer match reality.
Automation safety rules
- No unattended changes to customer-visible data without human approval paths.
- Store credentials outside the repo; reference vault names in README.
- Prefer APIs over brittle UI drivers when partner engineering time is available.
- Document kill-switch owners and expected time-to-stop.
- When skipping tests, write why in the ADR—not “we were in a hurry.”