Map The Process
Move one. Before a single line of code, draw the work as it really happens and see every step.
A process you cannot draw is a process you cannot automate.
Four questions, and the map is done
Answer these for any task and the shape of the automation is already clear.
The trigger: a trade that closes, a file that lands, a clock that ticks.
The inputs: the exact fields, files and numbers the task reads to do its job.
The steps in order, split into the repetitive moves and the real decisions.
The result: a row in a sheet, a dashboard, an order, a message.
The trade journal, mapped
Once the journal was drawn as a map, the code wrote itself around it. Trigger, inputs, one shaping step, one write. Nothing to guess, nothing to invent.
# drawn before any code on trade_closed: fields = read_closed_trade() row = shape_row(fields) # repetitive sheet = pick_sheet(strategy) # by tag append(sheet, row) # output
The map is the plan
With the process on paper, the repetitive steps are obvious. Those are the ones to hand off next.