Tomorrow, tomorrow, not today
As a consultant I help a lot of engineering teams to get up to speed with continuous delivery and effective collaboration. And there is this pattern I see quite a lot:
Even folks who understand the power of automation delay the creation of an automated solution until it becomes a screaming necessity. ( I call this “procras-tomation”)
The reasoning behind this is always something like: “it’s probably the last time we need to do this”, “this only takes 5 minutes”, “it’s hard to think of all the edge cases”, and the worst reason ever — ”we need to deliver this fast”.
This kind of thinking invariably results in the following types of waste:
Time
Yes, automation takes longer to implement and test. But our research shows that even for infrequent tasks it will ultimately save up to 20% of you engineering man-hours.
Resources
Humans are very inefficient in their resource consumption. They provision servers and then go off to a vacation. They constantly need to drink coffee, smoke or pee in between tasks. Automated processes look at humans with disbelief….
Neural Cells
Humans are very bad at following algorithms. They miss important steps and then get very upset when things don’t work. Banging on the keyboard and blaming computers for stupidity somewhat helps them release the tension, but they still lose a lot of neurons in the process.
Learning Opportunities
You have to learn how to do something manually before you can automate it. But the trick is that automating something is also the best way to understand how it works. What each step is meant for and how it is related to other steps. Additionally — automation is a skill in its own right. Each time you automate something you become better equipped for automating anything else.
In order to avoid wasting all of these you have to follow:
The Rule
Anyone even remotely related to engineering knows nothing ever “takes 5 minutes”. Moreover — with the growing complexity, ephemerality and fragility of IT infrastructure — everything you build will almost certainly have to be rebuilt from scratch at some point in the future.
Therefore there is only one way to fight procras-tomation. By following the Day-2 Automation Rule.
When performing any manual task — ask yourself:
- Have I (or anyone on the team) done this at least once before?
If the answer is yes, even if it’s only the second time you do this — automate it!
Following this super-simple rule isn’t that simple. Procrasto-mation and hustle win time after time. But if you ingrain it into your engineering culture, if as a team leader you make sure the rule is followed and enforced — the gains are worth it.
Teams that implemented this rule saw 20–30% improvement in productivity, efficiency and job satisfaction.
And what is the state of automation backlog on your team? What rules help you with fighting technical debt? Please share in comments.
