This analysis is the right kind of analysis but most people use the wrong metrics. On the value of your time side, the metric that I’ve seen people always use

This analysis is the right kind of analysis but most people use the wrong metrics. On the value of your time side, the metric that I’ve seen people always use is the average value of a person’s time. However, the real relevant metric is the marginal value of someone’s time. So,for example, if you are an engineer earning a fixed salary that works out to $100/hr, saving a few more hours will not earn you any more money. If, for example, it saves you some time, the real question is what’s the value of the time you saved. If it saves company time, then the answer is close to $0 with the only benefits being an earlier delivery (which may even be a negative in many workplaces for you personally). This may be a reason for the company to pay for the tool but not for you as an individual. Alternatively, if those 2 hours saved means you’re gonna earn an additional 2 hours of free personal time, then the question is what you will do with that personal time. If the answer is watch Netflix for 2 hours then the value of those 2 hours is likely much lower than $100/hr and in some cases may even be negative. Then there’s an incomplete analysis on the other side as well. If I save 2 hours by paying a freelancer $20 to setup my servers, I may be losing some educational value that I would have gained it by doing it myself. And for some there may also be entertainment value attached. Personally, there are several projects I can outsource that I enjoy doing myself. Paying Google to manage my emails and calendars (at least the less important accounts) is actually taking away from the enjoyment I get in setting up, tinkering with, and maintaining my NextCloud instance.