If you are looking at this from a programming point of view, most of the software would be functions that make it so the golem doesn't get itself killed and can function in society. Go through an average day and think about how much information you process subconsciously. Just sticking to basic axioms and information consider the following:
* Do not walk into the ditch.
* Walk on the right side of the road.
* Stop at red lights.
* This animal is a pig.
* The city map is laid out as follows.
* Do not throw children out of your way while walking.
* Ring doorbell and wait before entering.
* The three laws of robotics.
The final list would be exhaustive and we still haven't given the golem the ability to do anything useful yet.
You could speed up golem creation by having some method to quickly dump the needed base information into the golem, but perhaps there isn't much room (memory or HD space equivalent) left for it to do anything terribly complicated. So tasks have to be simple, which by definition puts golems into the background of the story.
Or maybe there is plenty of room for additional instructions, but that opens the door to golem sentience which almost always has negative consequences.
Smaller, man sized golems could be incredibly useful, but still limited enough to keep them in the background. Examples follow:
Farming with golems may require a lot of oversight. Okay golems, go plow the field. 209
Now pick out any rocks over 3". Now plant 3 seeds every 12". Now go back in the shed.
A golem could serve food at a highly scripted formal dinner, but it would probably be a terrible cook as it couldn't tell the doneness of meat or whether the soup needed more salt. A golem waiter would also be useless at the local Applebee's as everyone wants their food prepared slightly differently and there is no way the golem could keep track of that.
A golem could deliver a letter to a specific address, but it has no idea whether the person receiving the letter is Count <PERSON>, his butler, his brother, his arch enemy, or mischievous street urchin. Maybe all it can do is put it into a specially marked mail box and ring a bell indicating a letter has arrived.
Golems in the army may be great at moving supplies, cutting down trees, or building simple structures. But they would be useless in combat as they are incapable of conceiving of any tactics beyond walk straight and punch the guys in the blue uniforms.
From a narrative point of view, think of golems as magical pieces of farm equipment, machine tools, or roombas. I think you could put them everywhere and they'll still just stay in the background of the story. 164