Why Your "Perfect" Automation Keeps Breaking (And How to Fix It)

You built the perfect automation. It worked flawlessly for months. Then one day, it just... stopped. Sound familiar?

If your automation hasn't been updated in the last 90 days, there's a good chance it's either broken or about to be. That's not a criticism of how you built it—it's just the reality of how fast technology moves today.

The Problem With "Set It and Forget It"

Most business owners think about automation the wrong way. They imagine building a workflow once and letting it run forever, like some kind of perpetual motion machine. But here's the truth that most automation companies won't tell you: automation is software, and software needs maintenance.

Think about your phone. Whether you have an iPhone or Android, you're constantly updating it. The operating system updates, then your apps need to update to work with the new OS. If app developers treated their software the way most people treat automation—build it once and never touch it again—your phone would be useless within months.

Why Automation Breaks (Even When It's Built Right)

When you build automation, you're connecting multiple systems through APIs, webhooks, and various platforms. Each of these components can update independently:

• API Changes: Platforms modify their API endpoints or requirements
• Model Updates: AI models get upgraded with new capabilities and requirements
• Platform Updates: Tools like Make, Zapier, or n8n release new features and deprecate old ones
• Security Updates: Systems implement new security measures that break old connections

With AI accelerating development cycles, these changes happen faster than ever. What worked perfectly three months ago might be completely obsolete today.

The Maintenance Monster Problem

Here's where most businesses go wrong: they try to solve everything with one massive automation. We call these "maintenance monsters"—complex workflows with hundreds of connection points that become impossible to debug and expensive to maintain.

The alternative? Start small and build modular.

Instead of one giant system that takes 12 months to build, create small automations that solve specific problems. Five small solutions built in five days will move the needle more than one massive system you'll never finish.

The Real Cost of Maintenance vs. Manual Work

Yes, automation requires ongoing maintenance. But even with those costs, it's still dramatically cheaper than paying people to do repetitive tasks manually. Consider:

• Manual costs: Salary, benefits, training, turnover, management overhead
• Automation costs: Initial build + periodic updates and maintenance

The math isn't even close. Plus, your team gets to focus on work that actually matters instead of copying and pasting data between systems.

How to Build Maintainable Automation

1. Start Small: Solve one specific problem at a time
2. Build Modular: Create independent solutions that can work together
3. Plan for Updates: Budget time and resources for regular maintenance
4. Document Everything: Make it easy for someone else to understand and update
5. Monitor Regularly: Don't wait for something to break before checking on it

The Bottom Line

Automation isn't a magic solution you build once and forget about. It's a powerful tool that requires the same care and attention as any other business system. Treat it like software, maintain it regularly, and build small instead of massive.

Your future self (and your team) will thank you when your workflows actually work when you need them most.

The AI Automation Graveyard (Why Most Projects Die After Launch)

If your automation hasn't been updated in 90 days, it's probably broken. Alane and Micah dive deep into why automation is actually software and what that means for your business. They reveal why most automation failures aren't due to poor building—they fail because people stop maintaining them. Learn why starting small beats building "maintenance monsters," how API changes and model updates break workflows faster than ever, and why the business case still makes sense even with ongoing maintenance costs. This episode will completely shift how you think about automation in your business.

 If your automation hasn't been updated in 90 days, it's probably broken. In this episode, Micah and Alane reveal why most automation and AI projects fail after launch, and it's not because they were built poorly.

Discover why automation requires ongoing maintenance just like software, how API changes and platform updates can break your workflows overnight, and why the "build it and forget it" mentality creates what we call a "maintenance monster."

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why automation is software (and what that means for your business)
• How fast tech changes are breaking automations every 90 days
• The real cost of ignoring updates and maintenance
• Why small automation projects beat massive workflows every time
• How to avoid creating a maintenance monster in your business
• The business case for automation vs. manual processes
• Real examples of automation failures (like creating 150 proposals by accident) 

Whether you're using n8n, Make, Zapier, or building AI agents, this episode will change how you think about automation maintenance, updates, and long-term success.

Topics covered: automation maintenance, AI agents, workflow automation, API updates, software development, business process automation, no-code tools, Make.com, n8n, Zapier, automation strategy