Exactly.. That is what I meant by waste of time.. I need to install different packages myself in order to get my analysis/pipeline up and running. This is also something most people do as far as I have seen.
I do the same, but in an initial stage when i need to ensure all the pipeline, after that i focus mainly in the data. I don't need to reconfigure my pipeline frequently.
Installing packages hasn't been my waste of time yet. I encounter most of my time being used for file formatting and reordering big data. Its not waste though but it takes up most of the time of any analysis and it so feels that primary aim of bioinformatician is to change file formats
I´m sure this happens just in the firsts months of working with bioinformatic things, when you have all the programs you need (and you like and you know how to use them moreorless), it`s not necessary to actualize too frequently. If you continue downloading and looking for new versions or new software, you could be trapped in an endless road, be careful.
I think my bigger waste of time is when i pass days analyzing a pathway or a GO term for a condition and finally i conclude that there is not enough evidence, i hate that! jajaja, I love my job!
@adda: I agree with you.. But it is very frustrating atleast for first few months.. That happened with me too.. I find anything other that analyzing the data as waste of time.. which includes changing file formats, installing softwares (sometimes you end up installing a software and get it running which cannot answer your reseach question) etc.,
Some time-wasting activities in bioinformatics things involve studying and trying to understand the structure of large volume of genetic data (metabolic pathway analysis, formatting data, restructuring data etc). Installations of tools on the appropriate platform (that is , correct versions, correct platforms ), can also be time-consuming.
However, I spend my time trying to develop newer and more efficient bioinformatics and computational biology tools. The programming aspect of this part takes time though, especially when it has to do with implementing efficient algorithms to make and improve the performance of the new tool better than existing tools.