I find attention very helpful in cases where the limiting factor is not my ability, but my akrasia. I need to feel like my audience would jump on me if I didn't update a chapter of my fiction when I said I would; in school, I needed to expect my teachers to notice and care if I didn't show up to class (this meant I got very little academic value out of my semester abroad, since they didn't, so I didn't); etc. But when I don't know quite what I'm doing in some minor-but-essential way, having help handy ensures that I will not learn to do it.