# Automation as Motivation

By Randall Degges · May 21, 2012 · https://rdegges.com/2012/automation-as-motivation/

> Stuck in a programming slump, I remembered what drives me: building software that runs itself forever with no human help. Perfect automation motivates me.

![Robot Sketch][]


For the past two weeks, I've been having some serious programming motivation
issues.  Despite the fact that I know what's causing the motivation issues, I
haven't been able to propel myself out of this mini-slump like I normally do.

Last night I was chatting with a good friend and business partner about the
issue, when my friend started discussing a new business he's been working on.
While I'm unable to quote his exact words here (due to lack of certain memory),
at some point he said something along the lines of "What I really want to do is
quickly build everything, get it to a workable state, then let it just run
itself."

Instantly, the motivation returned.

For as long as I can remember, I've had a very specific idea of perfection.
Perfection in my mind is complete automation.  When I build software, I do so
with the intention that when I'm done working on it, it should be able to run
and manage itself indefinitely, without any human intervention.

The real beauty of software, in my mind, is that it can last forever.

Imagine a world where every problem was solved by some sort of software or
hardware solution.  Now, imagine if each of these small, independent solutions
were engineered in such a way that they required no human intervention, and
could simply carry on working indefinitely.

How awesome would that be?

The very idea that something can be solved "forever" seems extremely seductive
to me.  What if I never had to do laundry again because there was a
sustainable, everlasting solution to that issue?  What if I never had to
implement a user profile on a website because there was some global service
which permanently solved the problem?

Regardless of how small (or large) a problem is, there should be one simple
solution that solves it indefinitely.

Since I got off the phone with my friend, I've been absolutely consumed by the
idea of fully automating some of the projects I've been working on.  I find
that over time as I work on things, I end up burying myself in the little
details--and forget about the big picture and goals.  It is so easy to get
carried away with feature X, or ticket Y that you completely lose sight of your
ambitions.

Next time I fall into a slump, I'm going to remember my overall goal of perfect
automation, and get back to work.


[Robot Sketch]: robot-sketch.png "Robot Sketch"