How do you make a bedtime tag?
By building the scene first and the tag last, and by keeping it short enough that you still tap it in a month. Most bedtime routines are abandoned because they try to do eleven things, one of which is wrong on any given night.
The scene comes first
Define the scene in your home system and run it for a week from the application, with no tag involved.
That week tells you what is wrong with it, and something will be: a light you actually want on, a temperature that is too low, a door lock you forgot.
Fix it there, where fixing is a few taps. Only when the scene is right does a tag become worth applying.
Building the tag first means debugging two things at once, which is how people conclude the tag is unreliable.
Keep it short
Three or four actions, chosen because you do them every night without exception.
Lights off in the rooms you have left. Heating down. Whatever your household considers the closing act.
Leave out anything conditional. A step that is wrong once a week is a step that makes you stop using the whole thing, because it is faster to do everything by hand than to undo one thing.
The test is whether you would be annoyed if it ran on a night you were still up. If yes, it does not belong in the scene.
Where the tag goes
On the bedside table, or on the frame beside it, where a hand goes at that moment anyway.
Not on the light switch, which is where you would think, because the point is to replace the trip round the house rather than the last switch.
Flat, at hand height, on wood or plastic rather than a metal lamp base.
And on something you can move, since the right place is usually the second place you try.
Making it last
Give it a month before deciding it works. The first week is novelty and the fourth is habit.
If you stop using it, ask which step is wrong rather than whether tags are useful. Almost every abandoned routine has one offending action.
Keep the scene editable by everyone who lives there, so it can be corrected by whoever it annoyed rather than only by you.
And leave the switches alone. A bedtime tag that makes ordinary lights unusable by hand is a downgrade for anyone who does not use the tag.
Frequently asked questions
How many actions should a bedtime scene have?
Three or four, all of which you do every night. Conditional steps are what make people abandon a routine.
Why did I stop using mine?
Almost always one step that is wrong sometimes. Find it and remove it rather than concluding the idea does not work.
Where should the tag go?
Where your hand goes at that moment, usually beside the bed. Not on a light switch, since the point is to replace the trip round the house.
Should I build the scene or the tag first?
The scene, and run it for a week from the application. Building both at once means debugging two things together.