Well I can give you some insight into the difficulty of 4 - in my particular circumstance... Assuming I can convince my boss that the task requires a professio

Well I can give you some insight into the difficulty of 4 - in my particular circumstance... Assuming I can convince my boss that the task requires a professional... she then has to take it to the admin leaders committee and pitch it to the head of school. The head of school might make an executive decision on it, but more likely he will take it to the PR committee to discuss if hard to come by funds are worth spending on it. Questions will be asked as to why this can't be delegated to the university tech folk. Arguments have to be made. Our finance guy then has to find the funds. More discussions... As to your other point. I agree entirely that deference to existing solutions is always preferable - IF those solutions meet your desires. But I would stress the following two points: 1) I see people engaged in manual administrative tasks on daily basis that they could work to automate to a large degree. There are no existing solutions to them. These processes are often idiosyncratic - and there is no wider market for an automated solution. However, such a solution would do wonders for those having to carry out those processes. 2) I said that existing solutions that meet your desires are always preferable... but what if your desires are constrained by the interfaces with which you have been bequeathed? We have this Cartesian understanding of self wherein everything about US is thought to spring forth from an irreducible, internal essence. But desires are contextually determined to a very large degree. My larger point is that an ability to create your own interfaces might just liberate your desires in ways that are difficult to imagine for people who don't have such skills. The latter point is at least an interesting empirical hypothesis that deserves some thought...