Interesting article about writing down a list of manual steps for tasks that can't be automated. A do-nothing script can take some of the toil out of a manual slog.

Even though the script doesn't do anything other than display text on a screen (the instructions to complete the task) it's still helpful, because:

• All the steps and information required are collected together.
• It lowers the activation energy required to do something fiddly.
• Each step is part of a function, and the function can be updated with automation code if automation becomes possible.
• It's more difficult to lose your place in the process, or get the order of steps wrong.

It doesn't reduce manual effort. It does reduce toil.