If you could automate one part of your design workflow, what would it be? We are asking e14 in our Join, Share & Win Competition

the part where my boss is like: we need you to automate something.
then Im like which thing?
and theyre like every thing. 
then Im like this is a complex network of plcs, with known issues of bandwidth, network faults, inappropriate error handling, and it is in active use, to which the automation process could introduce new bugs, or delays. 
then they like ok automate it!
So then Im automating it.. and you know I learn every way it wont work first. 
and theyre like what taking so long?
I pressed an estop the other day, and literally nothing happened. So after body slamming mu co worker, to get them un hung up, from the electrical. they quit the next week.
so any way, I press all the fucking estops, one starts a 5 minute shutdown process. one kills the lights, and most of them do absolutely nothing. Mean while, my 8th try into a process logger which doesnt glitch the whole system is going well. 
but 2 of the 7 plcs have weird float data, way out of spec. Im thinking ok maybe I misinterpreted the data type. but eventually I figure out its not that, 2 of the 7 plcs are little endian,,, I had to write my own custom protocol analyzer, and in the process of doing that I assumed I was dyslexic, because I am, and borked the endianess, ....

well anyway I'd like to automate the part that convinces mgt this place is a *** show.  

For me it's often slow to get my focus going. I often need some time to "get into the zone" of my engineering mindset. This could be any point in time, e.g. at the start of the day, after a meeting or break. There is a period where I get easily distracted by anything (other components on the workbench, the distractions of the interwebs). Once I get over that threshold and get my focus going, life is good.
If I could flip a switch in my brain and automate this kickstart moment to be deep into the task at hand, I would be so much productive.

Sourcing all of the parts on a BOM, taking into account price, delivery time, inventory, tariffs, alternatives for EOL, and history with given distributors. 

That, or keeping the cat off my workbench. 

When I think about a whole project it is often daunting enough to cause procrastination (which can take the form of getting side tracked on any of my many other interests). Sometimes it helps to pick some small easy aspect of the project to tackle first. After a couple of these mini-starts, the spark will eventually catch. Once on a roll, I tend to be loathe to give up until I get something working.

I regularly create open-source projects and dedicate time to working on them almost every day. I share my work on online communities such as element14, Hackster, and Instructables. To document a project properly, having clear, well-composed, and high-quality images is essential. I frequently take photos of my work in progress, such as breadboard connections and soldering steps. However, since most of these tasks require both of my hands, capturing photos during crucial moments often becomes quite challenging. An automatic photo-capturing system that can detect and capture important moments during my work would be extremely useful. It would not only make documentation easier but also greatly enhance the overall quality and completeness of my project records.

It would definitely be useful if it could be done well. The newer smart glasses with built-in camera are getting to a decent level of capability and even the price is coming down.

Perhaps take a look at some of the security camera systems. They record multiple HD cameras continuously (or via schedule) to a network video recorder which then overwrites after a month or so depending on capacity. Within that time you can then go back and mark out anything that you want to keep for publishing and export it.

We have one such system installed here in the medical school for training purposes. It records activity at multiple beds and can also record instrumentation that has a HDMI / HD-SDI output.

After some navel-gazing and a two-hour driving road trip, not at the same time, my “if you could automate one part of your design workflow. What would it be?” would be board stuffing.

I’m a through-hole technology neophyte. I bend leads on components, deploy sockets to hold integrated circuits and use screw terminals where possible to facilitate board connections. After my electronic birthing I was raised on THT. I know no other world.

Stuffing ten printed circuit boards is a large project. The first board component stuffed and soldered is enjoyment; the last board components stuffed and soldered is penance. Once past halfway, self-motivation is a must in order to prevent the squirrels of distraction from luring me elsewhere.

I look at the projects of community members that use surface-mount technology with envy. I raise the question. Why don’t I do that? It looks so much easier.

Then PCB’s manufactures dangle the opportunity of board stuffing for me. Wouldn’t that be nice? Since I have incomplete parts lists and fudge some footprints to make things work, I accept my projects are not of this world. I don’t wish to spend energy fitting them within that realm.

I like projects that have five PCB’s or less. That doesn’t elicit the emotion of a ten-board order. I’ve tried doing the larger orders in multiple sittings, but that feels like I’m dragging production out longer than I need to. Just get it done!

My “automate one part of the design” feels like a complaint or maybe a whine. I accept the joy of the first board and the slog to get the final board stuffed as part of the design. It is a small irritant in the complete process that excellent tools make easier.

colporteur said:

After some navel-gazing

With all that navel-gazing going on, perhaps you need some sort of inverted belay glasses 

Here, I have an overhead camera/phone holder that gives a zenithal view of the working area. I found that filming the entire work session and taking still images from the video worked fine for me.
Another option would be to use a photo application that has voice recognition to trigger picture taking when it recognizes a keyword like "snap" which I believe exists for Android.