Project Pandora · Useful irritation
BuiltTools That Shouldn’t Have Been Manual
The fastest way to get my attention is to make me repeat the same manual effort often enough.
01
The pattern
If I am doing something manually again and again, I start looking for the repeatable logic. Repetition gives me a place to begin.
02
The question
Can the system do this instead of the person? I look for the parts that can become a dependable process and the decisions that still need someone’s judgment.
03
The forms it takes
That instinct shows up in different kinds of useful work.
- Incident analysis utilities
- Data helpers
- Workflow shortcuts
- Internal productivity tools
04
The goal
Reduce unnecessary effort and keep the solution easy to use. A useful tool should make the repeated task feel lighter.
Repetition is usually the first sign that there may be a better design.