The five processes I automated this year and the one I wish I hadn’t

Changelog creation from merged PRs. Metrics recap. Screenshots for the App Store. Payment reminders. Email series for onboarding.

The problem is the changelog. It is now formally correct and entirely devoid of life. Users stopped reading it and I only found out when the open rate of the release mail decreased by half in four months. I now write them manually again. Twenty minutes each.

What I learned from this experience: automate the things whose only requirement is correctness, and do not automate the things where the point is voice.

Which things did you automate and silently undo? I feel the trend goes further than just changelogs and I am interested in how others got here.