What works for me.

I don't use cast iron for boiling, simmering, and otherwise cooking liquids. It's a frying pan for frying.

I use stainless steel sauce pans, pots, etc. for liquids.

I clean the cast iron while it is hot. A lot of food comes off without water, only a little water is required to remove the rest, and the cast iron is mostly self drying. Since I usually use electric burners, I can stick it back on its burner to dry with the burner's residual heat. [1] This is also a reasonable time to oil it.

If something is really stuck, for example if I didn't clean the pan when hot, I heat the pan again and clean it when hot.

Cleaning stainless steel when it is hot is another algorithm that works on my machine.

There's certainly ritual and habit around my use of cast iron but I am not saying you should use cast iron. Particularly since I enjoy the process of using cast iron and you don't.

[1]: on my portable butane stove, I will reignite the flame and reheat the pan if necessary.