The Unseen Value in the Work We Automate
This post originally appeared in my weekly newsletter, BL&T (Borrowed, Learned, & Thought). Subscribe
Borrowed
"Grime-under-the-fingernails, bodily involvement with the machines we use entails a kind of agency. Yet the decline of such involvement, through technological progress, is precisely the development that makes for an increase in autonomy. Is there a paradox here? Not having to futz around with machines, we are free to simply use them for our purposes. There seems to be a tension between a certain kind of agency and a certain kind of autonomy, and this is worth thinking about."
From "Shop Class as Soulcraft" by Matthew B. Crawford [Book]
Learned
Many years ago, I did an exercise with the Barrel leadership team where we tracked how we spent every 30 minutes in a spreadsheet for an entire week.
What I remember finding valuable about the exercise was the insight. (Wish I could find that Google sheet!) It was a data-driven way to see how I actually spent my time vs. how I thought I spent my time. It’s no different than someone trying to lose weight. The first step is often tracking everything you eat: “Do you know how many calories you’re actually consuming?”
The other day, a similar question about my schedule crossed my mind, but now the natural thing to do is just ask Claude. Between Grain recordings, emails, and my calendar, it can get pretty far. I’m constantly amazed by the power of AI to do things that not only would take FOREVER manually, but that oftentimes I just couldn’t do if I had all the time in the world.
What it doesn’t do is replace the act of tracking. When I actually think about the experience of tracking every 30 minutes, it wasn’t just the insights that were valuable. It was being in the moment, having to think about where my time was going and be present instead of just letting it fly by.
That’s the side of automation I don’t think we talk about enough. It’s easy to automate something and assume it serves the same purpose. Sometimes it does. Other times the benefit was in doing the work, and it’s easy not to notice what you gave up.
I had the same experience preparing for a talk earlier this year. AI couldn’t create a deck then, but it could give you content. Now it’s even worse, because it can. I remember spending longer trying to get the output right than it would have taken me to just think. I’ve heard similar stories from other folks too. It’s the thinking part that is so critical here. The deck mattered, but I find that preparing for those things teaches you so much, and shortcutting the creative process is doing yourself a disservice. We can’t forget to use our brains.
It’s a fine line to walk. I’m still using AI every day and finding plenty of opportunities where automation is useful, but I’m also more and more aware of separating where the manual work may actually be the hard work that’s necessary to learn and improve.
Thought
Where am I skipping the thinking to get to the output?
