The cost nobody counts

A couple weeks ago I wrote about the desert of clicks. Click. Scroll. Click. Type. Click.

The hours were never the worst part.

The mindspace was.

It's knowing the reports are due, so they sit in the back of your head all week. It's the inbox you don't want to open. It's copying the same name, the same number, the same date from one form into another, and wondering if you just typed it wrong.

Downloading reports is a poor use of anybody's time.
Sifting through endless emails is a poor use of anybody's time.
Moving data from form A to form B is a poor use of anybody's time.

Building tools that take these off people's plates is the part of my work I enjoy most. A tool that frees up 2 hours of someone's week is a real delivery of value, if it's actually delivered.

That's the bar. Not perfect. Good enough to save people real time that they can spend with their families and friends.

"Perfect" is usually 5 to 10 iterations down the road. But if time can be saved today, the next tool should be shipped today.