Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
The automation paradox has created a world where the better our tools get, the more helpless we feel when they stop working.
Everyone has lived through the automation paradox, even if they’ve never named it. It’s what happens when the machine that’s supposed to make life easier suddenly stops working, and we realize how much we’ve forgotten about how to do things ourselves. From household appliances to the tools we use in software development, the pattern repeats.
It’s a question I often return to, both as an engineering leader and as the founder of a startup building with AI; where are AI tools augmenting work and where might they be undermining the craft, relationships, and decision-making that make engineering effective?
The automation paradox and its consequences
One of the clearest examples of the automation paradox is navigation.
