An epiphany I had while preparing for a Metamuse podcast recording and reading through an old Hacker News thread on building my own software ecosystem -- none of this is really about productivity. It's pretty difficult to make the case, even if I can build these things quickly, that my time is not better spent elsewhere.

I think more importantly, building your own tools and software is about changing your relationship with the software that runs your life. Maybe I don't get more work output per hour of time invested, but I trust my tools more, it feels more ergonomic, and there's an intangible benefit to a deeper, more durable relationship I can have with the tools that I have my hands on for so many hours of the day.