Only automate what is worth automating
A task that takes four minutes a day is rarely worth building an automation for, even if the tool is free — because setup and maintenance are not free. The calculator weighs recurring time saved against one-time build effort and ongoing cost.
The threshold it applies is deliberately conservative: the value of your time is measured at a realistic rate, not at a hypothetical consulting rate you have never charged.
Setup effort is the hidden variable
Most automation failures are not technical, they are economic: the flow works, but the setup took longer than the task would ever have taken manually. Entering an honest setup estimate is what makes the result trustworthy.
Break-even is expressed in weeks or months. Anything beyond a year should be treated as a hobby project, not a business decision.
只有值得自动化的任务才该自动化
每天只花四分钟的任务，很少值得为它搭建自动化，即使工具免费——因为搭建与维护并不免费。计算器把长期节省的时间与一次性搭建投入、持续成本放在一起权衡。
它采用的阈值刻意保守：按真实费率衡量你的时间价值，而不是按你从未真正收过的咨询费率。
搭建成本是隐藏变量
多数自动化失败不是技术问题，而是经济问题：流程能跑，但搭建花的时间比手动做这件事的累计时间还多。填入诚实的搭建估算，结果才可信。
回本周期以周或月表示，超过一年的，应当当作兴趣项目，而不是商业决策。