The unattended part of a workflow — and why it often matters more than raw speed.
Walk-away time is how long a lab process can run without human attention. It matters because automation is often most useful when it frees a person to do other work — not only when it makes a single step faster.
Walk-away time is the unattended portion of a workflow, and it's distinct from two other measures:
Two workflows both take four hours. In the first, a scientist must check it every 15 minutes. In the second, they load it once and return at the end. Same total run time — but the second has far more walk-away time.
A process that needs frequent supervision can consume a whole day even when the physical work is tiny. Removing the need to be present often creates more value than removing the work itself.
A system that saves five minutes of work can beat one that saves thirty, if it also removes the need to babysit the run. More walk-away time lets one person manage more experiments and instruments at once.
When evaluating automation, ask how much attention the process still needs: How often must someone return? How long must they stay available? Can it continue safely unsupervised? Those answers often reveal more value than counting labour hours.
