Home Assistant has allowed me to better manage the automation of the window shades in our home by allowing me to combine schedules, weather, scenes, voice command and presence to control the shades. Here is my latest blog post on the entire project:
Automation - Sun/Time Controlled Window Shades (tagmdl.com)
Here is my Home Automation technical post of all of the technology in our smart home: Technical Overview (tagmdl.com)