I would automate coffee making. Too many lazy or disrespectful coworkers skipping the making of coffee after taking the last cup.
The IETF tried that, but everyone ended up just building "compliant" teapots and calling it a day.
Ask HN: What manual processes would you automate in your company?
251–258 of 258 posts
Re: Ask HN: What manual processes would you automate in your company?
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd make it event-driven. /usr/sbin/hire --ceo starts a setTimeout(function() {`/usr/sbin/fire --ceo`}, 'INTERVAL 60 DAY') (And that is a weird bit of pseudocode, indeed.)
Ridiculous. This is obviously a job for systemd.
That's what the last CEO said before we fired him.
Re: Ask HN: What manual processes would you automate in your company?
#253Re: Ask HN: What manual processes would you automate in your company?
#254Re: Ask HN: What manual processes would you automate in your company?
#255I'd get rid of the manual process of driving to the office every day and replace it with collaboration tools to let people telecommute full time. We actually use such tools, but have a "no remote workers" policy. Occasional work from home is fine, just not full time.
I'd get rid of the manual process of driving to the office every day
Hmm. No one responded self-driving cars as a solution. Maybe with internet connectivity built-in so people can work en route.
Re: Ask HN: What manual processes would you automate in your company?
#256onboarding new developers so they understand the essentials of our archeitecture and code base. that includes writing up all the documentation. (what, you thought youd just create a sleek ui with the documentation provided by users? no! thats the hard part!)
We do this at Talla. A lot of our companies use us to onboard new employees in Slack, or MS Teams.
Re: Ask HN: What manual processes would you automate in your company?
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
One thing I've noticed in this thread and in other HN comments is a change in the way people talk about remote work. What used to be considered a perk seems to have turned into a right, and even a class issue (the corporate masters oppressing the workers). Personally, I don't really buy it. There are trade-offs with remote workers. They are harder to collaborate with, and they generally require more process to manage…
> "Tech workers today are doing alright. We make six-figure salaries, have our health care paid for, and, because we are in demand at them moment, are frequently pampered by our employers." You may and I may, but the vast majority of tech workers do not make six-figure salaries. Ironically, you may be insulated from that fact due to limited geographic mobility in terms of professional life.
I think it's intended to be taken more figuratively. Tech workers won't make 6 figures everywhere, but are likely paid way above average just about everywhere.
Re: Ask HN: What manual processes would you automate in your company?
#258Lawyers. The problem is, that it's really time-consuming and expensive to get decent terms of service/privacy policy/other common legal document squeezed out of your local lawyer. The initial version is basically a copy-paste of some template that just has your own company's name put in and does not anyhow describe the service you're building. After a week or two with back-and-forward you'll get to settle for some En…
You can't really automate lawyers, unfortunately, anymore than you can automate accountants. Someone has to assume the liability for giving you legal advice / accounting advice. Computers can't yet assume such liability.
Do accountants assume liability on bad advice?