Many times I end up refactoring the code (changing variable names and coding style to correspond to the new project, without changing the action), but it’s still more efficient than typing in new code because of typos: the original code has no typos, and the time saved from that is substantial.įor example, to start an application and then enter keypresses (to make it go full screen, for example, or to load the previous file) is a non-trivial task involving xtoolwait, sleep, and xdotool. Lots of times I do something and forget the exact arcane invocation needed to accomplish the task, but I also know that the step was in the middle of a previous project and I’ll go cut/paste the relevant section into the new project. What do you see in the XKCD “Is it worth the time” table? Automate more, or step back from the cliff edge?Īdditionally, the automation will probably involve steps that you now know exist in that process, and can be cut/pasted into new work. Next week’s newsletter might be a little bit delayed. One eight-hour workday * 25 seconds * 12 hours (pessimistically) of labor = 1.58 years before everything that needs automating will be. If you spend up to twelve hours on every possible 25-second-per-day savings, when will you ever get your real work done? Again, math gives us the answer. Why haven’t I done this yet? I’m going to get on it as soon as I’m done with this newsletter.īut the this begs the question. It shouldn’t take me even as long as twenty minutes to whip up a script that puts username and password into selection and clipboard for one-click pasting. Maybe two seconds, ten times, but it’s all the same. There’s your five seconds, five times per day. Because I keep my passwords separate from my browser, that means entering username and password by cut-and-paste. Because I practice good cookie hygiene, I end up re-entering my passwords daily. It stores passwords on my hard drive, and my backup server, encrypted with a GPG key that I have printed out on paper in a fireproof safe. To whit: I use pass as my password manager because it’s ultimately flexible, simple, and failsafe. Looking at it from my current perspective, it’s a little bit shocking that something that’ll save you five seconds, five times a day, is worth spending twelve hours on. I always thought that Randall was trying to convince himself not to undertake (fun) automation projects, because that was my condition at the time. What’s fun about this table is that it’s kind of a Rorschach test that gives you insight into how much you suffer from automatitis. Or skip out on the math because there’s an XKCD for that. How much total time you will save by automating, over some reasonable horizon? It’s a simple product of how much time per occurrence, times how many times per day it happens, times the number of days in your horizon. The short answer to the question posed in the headline: yes.įor the long answer, you have to do a little math.
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