I don’t know how to write code, and if you showed me a terminal window I’d probably ask if I could close it. And yet, a few weeks ago, I built a no-code automation workflow that’s giving us better insight into how our projects are progressing, and I did it all without writing a single line of code.
The Problem: Time Tracking in One Place, Project Work in Another
At SmartLogic, like many teams, we track time to understand how we’re spending our effort across projects. That data lives in CSV files and Google Sheets, but the project management work itself, such as tasks, tickets, deadlines, lives in ClickUp. These two systems weren’t talking to each other.
Every week, I’d manually compare our time tracking spreadsheet against ClickUp tasks to see if we were on track and where unplanned hours were going. It was tedious, repetitive, and error-prone.
Recently, we’ve been doing more experimentation with AI tools to support our day-to-day roles. This process led me down the automation rabbit hole.
Step One: Finding the Right Tools (and Trusting ChatGPT)
I started researching n8n, a no-code automation platform for project management. The pitch: connect your apps, automate tasks, and do it all with a drag-and-drop interface. I was intrigued, but also intimidated. The UI looked approachable, but I didn’t know where to start. That’s where ChatGPT came in.
I opened a new chat and wrote a prompt like:
“I want to set up an automation workflow in n8n and I am not a technical person and I don't know how to code. Can you help with this?”
ChatGPT walked me through the basics: how to authenticate with Google Sheets and ClickUp, how to set up nodes in n8n, and how to structure the data flow so it made sense. Every time I got stuck or confused, I’d copy-paste the error into the chat, and ChatGPT would help me troubleshoot in plain language.
Step Two: Building the Automation in n8n
Here’s what the workflow looked like in simple terms:
- Trigger: I set the automation to run manually for now, so I could test and iterate easily.
- Google Sheets Node: It pulls a list of time entries from our tracking spreadsheet — each row includes a task identifier and a time value.
- Code & HTTP Nodes: I used a combination of code nodes to manipulate and format data, and HTTP nodes to interact directly with the ClickUp API. That allowed me to look up each task in ClickUp and send a request to update the "Time Logged" custom field for each task.
- Logging: At the end of the workflow, another Google Sheets node writes a log of which tasks were updated, when, and with how much time — just in case we need an audit trail later.
What I Learned (and Why This Matters)
It was a proud moment to run the full workflow for the first time and see it working: time data from our spreadsheet showing up in ClickUp automatically, with no manual entry. I could spend less time doing spreadsheet gymnastics.
But here’s the thing: while AI got me most of the way there, it didn’t get me all the way.
Eventually, I hit a wall. I found myself in a frustrating loop — fix one node, and another one broke. I'd go back to ChatGPT, get another suggestion, try the fix, and something else would fail. It started to feel like playing a game of whack-a-mole. There were also sunk costs — I’d invested so much time into one thread that starting over felt painful, even when I knew it might help.
In the end, I still needed one of our developers to step in and help debug the final stretch. They quickly spotted issues I’d spent hours chasing. AI helped me in the first 80% but I needed a human who understood the context, and could see what the AI couldn’t, to get me across the finish line.
Tools like ChatGPT and n8n are empowering non-technical team members to contribute meaningfully to technical workflows, not by replacing developers, but by collaborating with them to enhance efficiency. You don’t need to be a developer; you just need to ask the right questions, act on AI guidance, and know when a human touch is needed to see around the corner.
If you’re a project manager, operations lead, or anyone who finds themselves doing the same tasks over and over, there’s a good chance automation can help. You don’t need to be a technical expert. You just need curiosity, patience, and the right support when you need it.
AI can take you far. But the finish line is still a team effort, and that’s a good thing!
SmartLogic helps teams transform ideas into dependable software. From prototypes to complex systems, we bring the expertise to make it work. Let’s talk about your next project.
