[peterwwillis]

Some people 'cook' their configuration into packages because they aren't allowed to change the configuration on the target. You can also generalize 'automation' to mean configuration management, package management, job management, bug management, change management, deployment, monitoring, continuous deployment/delivery, continuous integration, and many other fields.

In practice, everybody screws something up, whether individually or part of a small/big business. The tools are typically not the problem; the humans and how they use them, are.