I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because my role in the business is starting to change.

There are 2 different parts of the business I’m looking at right now:

The physical labor
The operational work behind the scenes

The physical labor is the part I cannot automate.

At the end of the day, someone still has to show up, walk the yard, find the waste, scoop thoroughly, secure the gate, follow the customer notes, and deliver the actual service.

AI is not coming to scoop the yard for me.

At least I hope we are not there yet. 😂

So that side still has to be trained the old-fashioned way:

job flow
walking patterns
scooping technique
equipment handling
gate procedures
dog safety
customer notes
completion expectations
what to do when something looks off

That part has to be repeatable because customers are not paying for “close enough.”

They are paying for a consistent result.

The operations side is where things are getting interesting for me.

A lot of tasks I thought might eventually require an office person are starting to become easier to automate, delegate, or systemize with tools like Claude and other software.

Things like:

drafting follow-up messages
organizing processes
helping with SOPs
creating scripts
reviewing notes
cleaning up admin workflows
building internal checklists
helping think through customer communication

That has made me rethink what actually needs a person versus what needs a better process.

There are still plenty of tasks that require judgment.

But I’m realizing some of the “office work” I thought I needed to hire for may actually be a process problem first.

So if I had to train someone tomorrow, I’d probably separate documentation into 2 buckets:

Field work:
What does the customer physically receive?

Operations:
What has to happen before and after the job so the customer experience feels organized?

Both matter.

A great technician with messy operations still creates customer problems.

Clean admin with poor field work still loses trust.

If you had to train someone tomorrow, what would you document first: the physical labor, the office/admin side, or the customer communication process?

Forum Discussion

What would you document first if you had to train someone tomorrow?