manual until it hurts

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manual until it hurts is an indieweb principle of resisting automation until you have done it enough times to really understand it, and know that it is worth doing.

Brainstorming

Tantek Çelik proposes this rough equation: manual as long as the cost to doing so has a greater benefit than the reduced cost of doing it automatically minus the cost of setting up / maintaining automation.

See Also

• https://m.xkcd.com/1319/
• https://xkcd.com/1205/
• http://paulgraham.com/ds.html
• “Sometimes magic is just someone spending more time on something than anyone else might reasonably expect.” —Teller http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/teller-reveals-his-secrets-100744801/?story=fullstory
• https://elezea.com/2011/09/paving-cowpaths-design/