Some of our content work kept repeating in almost the same way. Grade the footage, get the transcript, add a text hook and burn in captions. Every time we recorded another simple talking-head clip, the same jobs followed it.
That's the work I wanted to automate. Getting it through the pipeline faster would leave us more time for the pieces that needed actual editing decisions and more thought.
We'd started with a script for grading footage, then worked on the transcript, hook and caption steps. It was work in progress when I talked about it in August. The useful question was whether we could make the routine clips easier to finish.
There was another decision inside that. Should we solve it for ourselves, or do the extra work to make a feature other people could use? Those are different amounts of work. An internal solution doesn't automatically become a product just because it saves you time.
I also draw a distinction between that repetitive handling and talking to customers. I want to keep doing customer service personally for as long as it's practical, because those conversations tell me things I need to know.
So I look at where the time is going. Am I repeating a predictable task, or am I learning something that should influence what we build?
Automating the first category can create room for the second. That's the reason for doing it. I want more time for the difficult edit, the product or a customer's problem. Repeating the preparation steps takes time away from those jobs.
