Write informational material
Most of the output can be produced by software today.
This is the most automatable shape of work there is, and also the shape that most needs a live connection to the system the record lives in. Without that connection an agent can prepare the entry but cannot file it.
| How automatable | Mostly automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Recording, documentation and administration |
| Jobs that do it | 13 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | Tools and auth, Builders |
| O*NET activity | Documenting/Recording Information (4.A.3.b.6) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 13 occupations that perform it.
- Write descriptions of the property being appraised.
- Prepare archival records, such as document descriptions, to allow easy access to information.
- Mark up, paste, and complete layouts and write typography instructions to prepare materials for typesetting or printing.
- Sketch rough and detailed drawings of apparel or accessories, and write specifications such as color schemes, construction, material types, and accessory requirements.
- Write and edit news stories from information collected by reporters and other sources.
- Write commentaries, columns, or scripts, using computers.
- Develop plans or materials to communicate organizational activities that are beneficial to the environment, public safety, or other important social issues.
- Write text, such as stories, articles, editorials, or newsletters.
- Develop or maintain online help documentation.
- Develop manuals, texts, workbooks, or related materials for use in conjunction with production materials or for training.
- Write photograph captions.
- Write new scripts for broadcasts.
- Prepare obituaries for newspapers.
- Write online blog entries that address news developments or offer additional information, opinions, or commentary on news events.
- Prepare or edit organizational publications, such as employee newsletters or stockholders' reports, for internal or external audiences.
- Write columns, editorials, commentaries, or reviews that interpret events or offer opinions.
What we would actually use
One recommendation rather than a shortlist, because a shortlist is just your problem handed back. This is what we would buy for recording, documentation and administration, and what it costs.
The work is not writing the record, it is filing it where the record lives. Make reaches most of those systems from $9 a month, which is the cheapest honest start; Composio is for when you are writing the agent yourself.
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.
The rest of the category
Context, not alternatives to weigh up. We name the layer rather than promise a named product does your specific task.
Matched from the kind of work, not from vendor marketing. Check any of them can reach the system your records actually live in — that connection, not the model, is where these projects stall.
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
13 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Appraisers of Personal and Business Property
- Archivists
- Art Directors
- Audio and Video Technicians
- Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
- Editors
- Fashion Designers
- Funeral Attendants
- News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists
- Photographers
- Producers and Directors
- Public Relations Specialists
- Technical Writers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Prepare informational or instructional materials”. 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.