Automation Automation Automation

A good rule of thumb to have as a developer is that if you have to do something three times or more, you should automate it. Imagine that a task takes you a minute to do, twice a day. Now imagine that you could write something that does it for you, but it would take an hour. Initially, you’ll have lost an hour, but after the first month you’ll be breaking even, as you’ve saved those two minutes per day. Then after the second month, you’ve essentially gained a free hour.

Automation is a developer’s best friend. Some things are easier to automate than others, but almost anything can be automated. In this talk, we’ll take a look at what can be automated, what tools are available to help us and crucially, if we should automate it. Surprisingly, sometimes the answer to the question “should we?” is “no”.

Slides