Very much, “I just want it to work.”
Here’s what I’ve found useful from a smart home:
* I can leave for a week or weekend, let the house get quite hot or cold (obviously within some safety parameters) and then turn in the heat or AC a couple hours before I get home.
* I get alerts when a package or other delivery shows up at the front door.
* I can set a timer to turn off any lights my kids left on during the day, late at night every night.
* I can set a timer to turn off the heat or AC in an outbuilding no-one sleeps in late at night, in case my kids were out there and forgot to turn it off.
* I can set my outdoor lights to go on at sunset, and turn off around “it’s unlikely anyone will be going out here and need a lit pathway” time.
* I can set my espresso maker to turn on and warm up before I’m ready for coffee, and turn off when we’re a bit past “you should stop drinking coffee or it’s gonna mess with your sleep” time.
* When we leave town with an arrangement for a dog sitter to come by and take care of our dog a few hours after we leave, I can check to make sure they actually did and poor Rover isn’t lonely and unfed.
But I do 100% agree with the author’s frustration, and wish things “just worked” and just worked together.