For me the fun is getting a colony to a self sustaining state where I don't have to micro manage it. Then grabbing two colonists and go off exploring, trading etc.
I would say in general you’re able to automate most things using the ticket system for production and work priorities. Unless you’re really trying to min/max, you don’t really need to micromanage. Military action is generally very manual though (for your pawns anyway, you can automate smaller military problems with turrets).