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It's interesting because there's a significant chance one wastes more time tinkering around with custom scripts than saving in the long run. See https://xkcd.co

It's interesting because there's a significant chance one wastes more time tinkering around with custom scripts than saving in the long run. See https://xkcd.com/1205/ https://xkcd.com/1205/ For example. The "saves 5 seconds task that I do once a month" from the blog post. Hopefully the author did not spend more than 5 minutes writing said script and maintaining it, or they're losing time in the long run.

kelvinjps10 1y ago
I find that now with AI, you can make scripts very quickly, reducing the time to write them by a lot. There is still some time needed for prompting and testing but still.
skydhash 1y ago
Sometimes, you explore to have ideas. By fixing a few problems like these, you learn about technologies that can help you in another situation.
duskdozer 1y ago
Maybe, but 1. even if it costs more time, it could also save more annoyance which could be a benefit 2. by publishing the scripts, anyone else who comes across them can use them and save time without the initial cost. similarly, making and sharing these can encourage others to share their own scripts, some of which the author could save time with
- chipsrafferty 1y ago
  In my experience, it's not "maybe" but "almost certainly" which is why I stopped doing this. Every time I get a new system I would have to set everything up again, it's not cross platform, doesn't work when using someone else's computer, suddenly breaks for some reason or another, or you forget it exists... The annoyance of all these factors for outweighs the benefits, in my experience. It's just that the scripts feel good at first and the annoyance doesn't come until later and eventually you abandon them.
  - yellowapple 1y ago
    > Every time I get a new system I would have to set everything up again Sounds like something you could automate with a script :)
janalsncm 1y ago
Not all time is created equally though, so I disagree with that xkcd. If something is time sensitive it is worth spending a disproportionate amount of time to speed things up at some later time. For example if you’re debugging something live, in a live presentation, working on something with a tight deadline etc. Also you don’t necessarily know how often you’ll do something anyways.
- normie3000 1y ago
  > I disagree with that xkcd The xkcd doesn't seem to be pushing an agenda, just providing a lookup table. Time spent vs time saved is factual.
  - janalsncm 1y ago
    The title of the comic is “ Is It Worth the Time?”. To take a concrete example, if I spend 30 minutes on a task every six months, over 5 years that’s 5 hours of “work” hours. So the implication is that it’s not worth automating if it takes more than 5 hours to automate. But if those are 5 hours of application downtime, it’s pretty clearly worth it even if I have to spend way more than 5 hours to reduce downtime.
    - yellowapple 1y ago
      Time saved also ain't the only factor here. I'll often automate something not because it actually saves a lot of time, but rather because it codifies an error-prone process and having it scripted out reduces the risk of human error by enough of a degree to be worth spending more time on it than I'd save.
latexr 1y ago
One thing which is often ignored in these discussions is the experience you gain. The time you “wasted” on your previous scripts by taking longer to write them compounds in time saved in the future because you can now write more complex tasks faster.
- dbalatero 1y ago
  The problem is, to really internalize that benefit, one would need to have an open mind to trying things out, and many folks seem to resist that. Oh well, more brain connections for me I suppose.
r4tionalistmind 1y ago
>YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. I NEED TO BE CONSTANTLY OPTIMIZING MY UPTIME. THE SCIENCE DEMANDS IT. TIMEMAXXING. I CAN'T FREELY EXPLORE OR BRAINSTORM, IT'S NOT XKCD 1205 COMPLIANT. I MUST EVALUATE EVERY PROPOSED ACTIVITY AGAINST THE TIME-OPTIMIZATION-PIVOT-TABLE.

kelvinjps10 1y ago

I find that now with AI, you can make scripts very quickly, reducing the time to write them by a lot. There is still some time needed for prompting and testing but still.

skydhash 1y ago

Sometimes, you explore to have ideas. By fixing a few problems like these, you learn about technologies that can help you in another situation.

duskdozer 1y ago

Maybe, but 1. even if it costs more time, it could also save more annoyance which could be a benefit 2. by publishing the scripts, anyone else who comes across them can use them and save time without the initial cost. similarly, making and sharing these can encourage others to share their own scripts, some of which the author could save time with

chipsrafferty 1y ago
In my experience, it's not "maybe" but "almost certainly" which is why I stopped doing this. Every time I get a new system I would have to set everything up again, it's not cross platform, doesn't work when using someone else's computer, suddenly breaks for some reason or another, or you forget it exists... The annoyance of all these factors for outweighs the benefits, in my experience. It's just that the scripts feel good at first and the annoyance doesn't come until later and eventually you abandon them.
- yellowapple 1y ago
  > Every time I get a new system I would have to set everything up again Sounds like something you could automate with a script :)

janalsncm 1y ago

Not all time is created equally though, so I disagree with that xkcd. If something is time sensitive it is worth spending a disproportionate amount of time to speed things up at some later time. For example if you’re debugging something live, in a live presentation, working on something with a tight deadline etc. Also you don’t necessarily know how often you’ll do something anyways.

normie3000 1y ago
> I disagree with that xkcd The xkcd doesn't seem to be pushing an agenda, just providing a lookup table. Time spent vs time saved is factual.
- janalsncm 1y ago
  The title of the comic is “ Is It Worth the Time?”. To take a concrete example, if I spend 30 minutes on a task every six months, over 5 years that’s 5 hours of “work” hours. So the implication is that it’s not worth automating if it takes more than 5 hours to automate. But if those are 5 hours of application downtime, it’s pretty clearly worth it even if I have to spend way more than 5 hours to reduce downtime.
  - yellowapple 1y ago
    Time saved also ain't the only factor here. I'll often automate something not because it actually saves a lot of time, but rather because it codifies an error-prone process and having it scripted out reduces the risk of human error by enough of a degree to be worth spending more time on it than I'd save.

latexr 1y ago

One thing which is often ignored in these discussions is the experience you gain. The time you “wasted” on your previous scripts by taking longer to write them compounds in time saved in the future because you can now write more complex tasks faster.

dbalatero 1y ago
The problem is, to really internalize that benefit, one would need to have an open mind to trying things out, and many folks seem to resist that. Oh well, more brain connections for me I suppose.

r4tionalistmind 1y ago

>YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. I NEED TO BE CONSTANTLY OPTIMIZING MY UPTIME. THE SCIENCE DEMANDS IT. TIMEMAXXING. I CAN'T FREELY EXPLORE OR BRAINSTORM, IT'S NOT XKCD 1205 COMPLIANT. I MUST EVALUATE EVERY PROPOSED ACTIVITY AGAINST THE TIME-OPTIMIZATION-PIVOT-TABLE.