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Automation Squad
You run thisWritten for ChatGPT or Claude

Work out what only I can do, and what I'm doing anyway

Robert MacKelfresh

By Robert MacKelfresh

Founder, Automation Squad

Delegation advice fails because it treats the bottleneck as identifying tasks, when the real bottleneck is an over-full 'only I can do this' bucket that feels accurate from the inside. Forcing a fourth bucket for work that should simply stop is what makes this different from a to-do list — and naming the real reason you haven't handed something over is usually more useful than the sorting.

The prompt

Help me work out what I should stop doing.

Here's my week: [LIST WHAT YOU ACTUALLY DID LAST WEEK — meetings, tasks, the small stuff, the things that aren't in any system]
My role: [WHAT YOU'RE ACTUALLY ACCOUNTABLE FOR]
Who else is around: [TEAM, CONTRACTORS, TOOLS YOU ALREADY PAY FOR]

Sort everything I listed into four buckets, and be blunt:

1. ONLY ME. Genuinely requires my authority, relationships or judgement. Be strict — this bucket is almost always overfull, because everything feels like it needs me when I'm the one doing it.

2. SOMEONE ELSE, TODAY. Could be handed over right now with a short brief. For each, name who and what the brief needs to say.

3. A TOOL OR AN AUTOMATION. Repetitive, rule-shaped, low judgement. Say what would run it.

4. NOBODY. Should just stop. Work that exists because it always has, produces a thing nobody reads, or protects against something that stopped being a risk.

Then tell me:
- The single most expensive thing in bucket 1 that I've put there out of habit rather than necessity
- What's actually stopping me handing over bucket 2 — be specific: is it trust, time to explain, or that I quietly enjoy it?
- What I'd do with the reclaimed hours, based on what's missing from my week entirely

Push back on bucket 1. If I've put something there that a competent person could do with a good brief, say so.

One more thing: use anything you already know about me from our past chats and anything you're connected to. If you can find it yourself, don't make me look it up.

Copy it, paste it, run it. Nothing here is gated.

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Written for ChatGPT or Claude as of August 2026. Models change — if this stops working the way it should, that is worth telling us about.