I love Home Assistant but I now have a pretty strict minimum effort rule after years of configuring integrations and building dashboards that I would forget about after 2 months:

I only do automations (no dashboards at all), and try to keep them as simple as possible. Once I feel I’m reaching diminishing returns territory, I stop.

Only use HA if I need to mix different vendors (e.g. turn on the hue lights if the tuya sensor switches to on) or if the vendor app/service has a limitation that doesn’t allow me to do what I want. For instance, I have some automations for my Mitsubishi airco units cause their app sucks. Otherwise I’ll just use the default app or service.

Only configure an integration if I’m going to use it in an automation; I have a bunch of integrations detected that I don’t configure.

I decided to follow these rules a couple of years back, and since then I could address all my needs with almost 0 maintenance.

How many apps do you have installed to control everything? And how is the stuff integrating if you have equipment from different vendor that need to talk to each other, like AC units with PV inverter to start and shutdown based on electricity net production and real temperature in the rooms (using external thermometers, not the one in the AC)? And how do you consolidate and monitor power consumption in a single place, are you using a different solution for that?

It sounds like I use HA in a similar manner. For me, I make HA available to Google Home and HomeKit. HA is just glue to hold everything together.

I tried do make a dashboard some time ago but it felt rather complicated. Google Home and HomeKit integrate the best into my life and the lives of my family that there is no way HA can compete. Maybe that will change if I find myself in a house that I own… Maybe spending time to make a dashboard will have a better value prop.

At the other end of the spectrum, I just managed to split up my HA automation files and mount them into a ConfigMap on my K8s cluster

https://github.com/shepherdjerred/homelab/tree/main/cdk8s/co...

I assume then, you don’t use HAOS? What benefit do you see by managing your config this way? Do you also have an operator to reload HA when when you update configs?

It’s mostly a fun way to learn Kubernetes for me. I don’t have an operator.

I hear ya! For awhile earlier this year I was playing around with using k8s as a router, but trying to firewall it properly was a headache.

You can buy only a replacement mug (without coaster/charger). Also, get in contact with customer support mentioning the battery, they usually offer a discount code.

Thanks, I’ll try customer support and see how it goes.

I had to deal twice with them: coaster stopped working 2 years ago and more recently paint inside the cup came out. Both time, they replaced the broken part at no cost. Probably the first time in my life I'm using and happily recommending customer support of any kind.

There’s this theory that systems often thrive at the expense of its individual parts… I guess this is one of such examples.

Ways I found that helped me the most dealing with this kind of situation:

- Refine your definition of what’s “meaningful”: anything that helps you, your colleagues, helps you to learn a new thing or simply allows you to create something beautiful can be meaningful; there’s a lot of meaning in giving a meal to someone starving, even though you’re not solving any big societal issue or being applauded by many for that single act.

- Don’t take people like the OP’s first manager too personally: with time you realize they’re generally not evil or terrible human beings, they’re just in a different mission. Usually they are also as lost as we are, trying to find meaning and recognition. Just lower the importance you give to them (if you’re really incompatible with their personalities) and focus on your work. If even then it becomes toxic, then move.

- Most importantly: reshape your relationship with work. Who you are and what you do are not necessarily the same thing. I don't like the advice of "slacking and collecting your pay check" (been there, you also feel shit after a while), but I think that going a bit to that direction helps to find balance.

This is pretty useful IMO, discourages me from spending now money that I'll only have in two weeks.

I’ve been using ad blockers for years now, mainly on DNS level. Last week I decided to test Apple’s private relay and for 5 minutes I had to deal with internet with ads. Disgusting experience.

Not true in analytics.

Thank you for this comment. I feel that I have been operating in the same mode of your former manager and never considered how this could be as harmful as being too direct.

I might be completely wrong, but these days I believe everyone is insecure to some degree and just create this “best” facade because don’t want to look worse than the rest that are bragging to be at least aiming for the best.

What is sad to me is that a lot of times I perceive that society lauds the bragging ones and overlooks who sincerely (and bravely) admit their “weaknesses”.