Remove snow
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 6 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Performing General Physical Activities (4.A.3.a.1) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 6 occupations that perform it.
- Perform grounds maintenance tasks, such as removing snow and mowing the lawn.
- Install or maintain landscaped areas, performing tasks such as removing snow, pouring cement curbs, or repairing sidewalks.
- Remove snow from sidewalks, driveways, or parking areas, using snowplows, snow blowers, or snow shovels, or spread snow-melting chemicals.
- Shovel snow from walks, driveways, or parking lots, and spread salt in those areas.
- Provide groundskeeping services, such as landscaping or snow removal.
- Initiate or conduct airport-wide coordination of snow removal on runways and taxiways.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
6 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Airfield Operations Specialists
- First-Line Supervisors of Housekeeping and Janitorial Workers
- First-Line Supervisors of Landscaping, Lawn Service, and Groundskeeping Workers
- Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners
- Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers
- Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Clean tools, equipment, facilities, or work areas”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.