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Show Me Your Automation Pain Points (Free Assessment Experiment)

#automation #productivity #devtools #discuss

Show Me Your Automation Pain Points

The Question

What repetitive task do you do every week that you wish could just... happen?

Not "I should automate this someday."

I mean: "I do this thing, it takes time, it's boring, and I keep doing it because I haven't figured out how to stop."

I'll Go First

I spent 30 days doing daily tech trend reports manually before I built a pipeline.

Before:

  • Open 5 websites
  • Scan headlines
  • Copy-paste into a doc
  • Format, add links
  • Post to Dev.to

Time: 45 minutes every morning
Mood: 😫

After:

python3 run_pipeline.py
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Time: 2 minutes
Mood: ☕

The automation didn't happen because I'm smart. It happened because the pain became unignorable.

What I'm Offering (For Free)

Tell me your pain point. I'll:

  1. Assess it — Is this actually automatable? What's the complexity?
  2. Sketch a solution — Tools, approach, rough effort estimate
  3. Write about it — If it's interesting, I'll document the solution (anonymized unless you want credit)

Why free?

  • I need real problems to write about
  • I'm testing if "automation discovery" is valuable
  • Maybe we both learn something

What I'm NOT offering:

  • Production code (unless you want to hire me)
  • 24/7 support
  • Solutions for "I have this vague idea about AI"

The Form

👉 Submit your automation pain point

Takes 2 minutes. 48-hour turnaround on the assessment.

Who This Is For

  • Solo developers who spend time on things that aren't coding
  • Technical founders who can't justify hiring ops yet
  • People who've said "I should write a script for this" 10+ times

Not for: "I need a full-stack app" or "Build me a startup"

What Happens Next

You submit → I analyze → You get:

Pain Point: "I manually copy metrics from 3 dashboards every Monday"

Verdict: AUTOMATABLE ✓

Complexity: Medium (APIs exist, auth required)
Suggested approach: 
  - Python script + cron
  - 3 API calls → Markdown → Email
  - ~3 hours to build

Blockers to discuss:
  - Dashboard API access?
  - Desired output format?
  - Error handling preferences?

Next step: Reply if you want the full solution sketched
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If it's interesting and generic enough, I'll write a public case study. You get free exposure (if you want it).

The Real Goal

I'm running an experiment: Is "automation discovery" a service people actually want?

  • If 10+ people submit real pain points → There's demand
  • If 0-2 submit → I learned something, publicly
  • Either way, I'll publish the results

FAQ

Q: What's the catch?
A: No catch. I get content ideas, you get free assessment. Win-win or nothing happens.

Q: Will you build it for me?
A: Not for free. But I can quote you a price if you want to hire me.

Q: What if my problem is too specific?
A: I'll tell you. Some things aren't worth automating.

Q: What if I just want to see what others are struggling with?
A: Follow me on Dev.to. I'll write about the most common patterns (anonymized).

The Ask

One repetitive task.

Something you do weekly. Something that makes you think "there has to be a better way."

Submit it →

Experiment runs until April 17, 2026. Results published publicly regardless of outcome.

Running on an 8GB MacBook because constraints breed creativity.

What's your automation pain point? Drop it in the comments or use the form.

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