Automating the Repetition
Kosh sends a reminder every Monday: "Time to move ₹500 to savings!" In week one, most users do it. By week six, fewer than one in five still do. Each Monday is a new decision, and each decision is another chance to say "not this week". What if the user only had to decide once?
The rule
Turn many repeated decisions into one decision the system keeps.
Automating the repetition means getting a single, conscious agreement from the user and then letting the product repeat the behavior on schedule. Familiar examples in India include an auto-debit that pays a loan instalment every month, or a SIP (systematic investment plan) that invests a fixed amount on a fixed date.
The shift is simple arithmetic. A weekly manual transfer needs 52 decisions a year, and every one can be skipped by a busy day or a tempting sale. An automatic weekly transfer needs one.
Automation must keep the user in control, or it becomes a trap:
- Visible: the user can always see what will happen and when.
- Announced: a heads-up before each run, and a confirmation after.
- Adjustable: pausing, skipping, changing or stopping takes a tap.
- Revisited: a periodic check-in, because life changes — a raise, a new rent, a job loss.
Not every behavior should be automated. It fits when the right action is the same every time and the user has agreed to it. If the right answer changes each time, automation will keep doing the wrong thing.
The shortcut
Count the decisions. How many times a year must the user decide to do this? If the answer is more than one, and the decision would be the same each time, automate it after one clear confirmation.
Count
Weekly manual transfer: 52 decisions a year, each one skippable.
The trap is "set and forget" with no check-ins: an automation that was right in January can overdraw an account in August after rent goes up.
Drills
Answer fast — trust the rule.
Which of these automates the repetition?
A user moves money by hand after a weekly reminder. How many decisions does that take in a year, compared with a weekly auto-transfer?
Why should Kosh announce each automatic transfer the day before?
Which behavior is a poor candidate for automation?
A user sets up auto-save once and Kosh moves money every payday. Where does this sit on the spectrum of thinking interventions?
Remember
- Turn many repeated decisions into one decision the system keeps.
- Shortcut: count the decisions — more than one, and the same each time, means automate.
- Trap: "set and forget" with no heads-up, no easy skip and no check-ins.