This is not a criticism. It’s a certainty.
No matter how well a process is designed, users will skip steps, upload the wrong document, submit incomplete information, and find creative ways to move past controls. This doesn’t happen because people are careless or resistant to change. It happens because they are busy, under pressure, and trying to get work done as efficiently as possible.
Automation that assumes perfect behavior will fail quickly. It relies on users to slow down, read carefully, and follow instructions exactly, conditions that rarely exist in real operating environments. Automation that anticipates imperfect behavior, on the other hand, survives and scales.
The difference shows up in design choices. Fragile automations expect every field to be completed correctly the first time and every document to arrive in perfect order. Resilient automations include validation, guardrails, and recovery paths. They prevent obvious mistakes, surface clear guidance when something goes wrong, and make it easy to correct errors without starting over.
Good automation doesn’t scold users for mistakes. It quietly guides them. It reduces decision fatigue by limiting options where possible and enforcing consistency where it matters most. The right action should feel obvious. The wrong action should be difficult, or impossible, to complete.
Testing is where this lesson is either learned early or paid for later. Idealized test cases rarely reflect reality. Real users don’t behave like test scripts. They multitask. They misunderstand instructions. They upload yesterday’s version of a document because it’s what they have handy. Testing must reflect that reality.
Across industries, the most successful automation projects include user testing that intentionally tries to break the system. What happens when required data is missing? When the wrong file type is uploaded? When a submission comes in outside expected hours or volumes? These scenarios are not edge cases, they are daily occurrences.
The goal of automation is not to eliminate human error. It’s to contain it. When users can make mistakes without causing delays, data corruption, or compliance risk, the automation has done its job.
If users can break it, they will. Your responsibility isn’t to stop that from happening, it’s to make sure breaking it doesn’t break the business.
Wanna to see how this looks in practice? schedule your free demo Here.
OR contact us at info@jpidr.com.