The short answer to the question asked in the title: yes.
The funny thing about this table is that it’s kind of like a Rorschach test that gives you an idea of how much you’re suffering. automatism. I always thought that Randall was trying to convince himself not to take (fun) automation projects because that was my condition at the time. From my current point of view, it’s a little shocking that something that will save you five seconds, five times a day, is worth spending. twelve o’clock On. I need to do a little automation.
For a drop: I use pass like my password manager because it is ultimately flexible, simple and secure. It stores passwords on my hard drive and on my GPG-encrypted backup server, which I printed on paper in a fireproof safe. Because I practice good cookie hygiene, I end up re-entering my passwords every day. Because I keep my passwords separate from my browser, this means entering a username and password by cropping and pasting. There are your five seconds, five times a day. Maybe two seconds, ten times, but it’s all the same. It shouldn’t take me even twenty minutes to create a script that puts a username and password in the selection and a one-click clipboard. Why haven’t I done this yet? I will deal with it as soon as I finish this newsletter.
But that begs the question. If you take up to twelve hours for any possible savings of 25 seconds a day, when will you get your real job done? Again, math gives us the answer. An eight-hour workday * 25 seconds * 12 hours (pessimistic) work = 1.58 years before all that automation needs to be. Next week’s newsletter may be a little fun.
What do you see in the XKCD table “Is it worth the time”? Automate more or step back from the edge of the cliff?
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