Not so! While these drills work when practiced consistently, there are much more enjoyable ways to develop your technique. Consider this: you only need the technique for the songs that you play, so why not just play pieces that contain plenty of the technique that you want to perfect? For instance, if you like to play mostly pop music, why waste time (and aggravate yourself) doing trill exercises?
Whether you choose the traditional exercises or not, remember that developing your techique is important, because playing the piano is a physical endeavor. It takes dexterity, strength and coordination in addition to control for dynamics and expression, so you need to develop your hands. Let's explore some enjoyable ways to do it. My suggestions are by no means exhaustive, but they will give you an idea of how you can use this approach.
A most important element of playing the piano, perhaps the most important, is keeping a steady tempo. A metronome will certainly help you achieve this, but also, playing music with a rhythmic bass line can help you keep the flow of the tempo in your mind. Try playing some easy sonatinas by Clementi if you like classical music. Look for pieces with repetitive patterns in the left hand. If you like what I call the "modern folk styles" like pop and jazz, try playing music with boogie woogie bass lines. Often you can find easy, written-out versions of boogie woogie music, so you don't have to improvise.
I am often asked how to develop independence of the hands. I think this is one of the most difficult aspects of the piano for a beginner. My suggestion is to play easy baroque music. There's a marvelous collection of suitable pieces called the "Anna Magdalena Bach" book. You may already be familiar with it. This book is very popular and easy to find. Even if you are an intermediate or advanced player you will enjoy learning these lovely pieces while you enhance the independence of your hands.
