[magicalhippo]

> What is perhaps less apparent is that having faster tools changes how users use a tool or perform a task.

Important here is that for a user, "faster" means with respect to achieving the goal.

At work we've created a module where, instead of punching line items by hand and augmenting the data by memory or web searches, the user can paste data from Excel (or import from OCR) and the system remembers mappings for the data augmentation.

After a couple of initial runs for the mapping table to build our users can process thousands of lines in 10 minutes or less, a task that could take the better part of a day.

It's not uncommon with some follow-up support after new customers start with this module, so I often get to follow the transformation from before to after.

They also quickly get accustomed. We'll hear it quick if those 10 minutes grows to 20 from one build to another, not much thought is given to how 20 minutes is still a lot faster than they'd be able to punch those 8000 lines :)