Re:Scripts I wrote that I use all the time
by normie3000 on Thursday October 23, 2025 @04:09AM
(#45679421)
> 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.
Re:Scripts I wrote that I use all the time
by janalsncm on Thursday October 23, 2025 @04:32PM
(#45686703)
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.
Re:Scripts I wrote that I use all the time
by yellowapple on Friday October 24, 2025 @03:42PM
(#45698359)
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.
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.