Google Nonsense

So I have this recollection (badly) of something I read, that some people would rather spend a lifetime making a X second process into a Y < X second process, and these are the real agents of change in the world. It's totally botched, google wants to direct me to 20 pages about personal finance, miscellaneously grouped quotes don't help. So I obviously misremember some wonderful comment about engineering perfectionists, and if anyone finds this and would love to help, it would be much appreciated.