How We Make Our Guides

Last updated: September 2026.

Most content sites don't tell you how their articles are made. We think you should know, because how a guide is made is a big part of whether you can trust it — and trust is the whole point of The Automation Shed.

So here's the honest version.

The short answer

Our guides are drafted with the help of AI, then reviewed and fact-checked by a human who has actually used these tools, before anything is published. AI does the first draft and a first editing pass. A person makes the final call on whether it's accurate, useful, and honest enough to go live.

We tell you this on every guide, and in more detail here, because we'd rather you knew than guessed.

Why we use AI at all

Writing clear, thorough guides takes time. Using AI for the first draft means we can cover more ground, more quickly, and spend our own time where it matters most: checking the facts, adding the real-world detail, and cutting anything that sounds good but isn't true. Used this way, AI is a tool that helps a small operation produce more without dropping its standards — not a shortcut to churning out filler.

We're not interested in publishing content nobody checked. The internet has plenty of that already, and it's exactly what we're trying to be an alternative to.

The process, step by step

Here's what actually happens before a guide reaches you:

  1. Draft. An AI model writes a first version, working from a detailed brief that sets our plain-English style, our audience, and our rule that every guide includes an honest "reality check."
  2. Edit. A second AI pass reviews that draft for clarity, plain language, and tone — and flags anything that needs a human to verify, like prices or specific steps.
  3. Human review and fact-check. A person who has used these tools reads the whole thing. This is the step that matters most. We check the facts, confirm the steps match what you'd actually see on screen, correct anything wrong, and add the practical detail that only comes from having done it.
  4. Publish. Only once it passes that review does it go live.

The AI helps with the writing. The human is accountable for the result. That's the order it should be, and that's the order we keep it in.

What this means for you

Facts are checked, not assumed. We treat anything an AI drafts as a starting point, not gospel — especially prices, limits, and step-by-step instructions, which we verify against the tools themselves.

Things still change. Even carefully checked, software interfaces and prices move. We date our guides and note when we last checked them, so you can see how fresh the information is. If something's moved since, the overall approach usually still holds — but always confirm current prices on the official page before you commit money.

Honesty comes first. If a guide tells you when not to bother automating something, or admits a free tool has a catch, that's the human review doing its job. We'd rather lose a click than mislead you.

Tell us if we get it wrong

We're a small operation and we won't get everything right. If you spot something out of date or plain wrong, we genuinely want to know — it makes the next reader's guide better.

That's the deal: we'll be straight with you about how these guides are made, and we'll fix what we get wrong.