[baldeagle]

This comment combined with a recent reflection on the ‘irony of automation’ makes me worried that the product I’m building to make life easier will instead lead to loss of craft, pride, and ingenuity.

Honestly, still processing through it to make sure that all the people in my products and systems are seen.

[pell]

It might sound redundant but I do think there can be an achievable balance. I worked at an organization that was allergic to documentation and safeguards of any kind and relied fully on certain talents to resolve issues. This was not just incredibly inefficient but also caused many problems when some of these people left the company. I think some safeguards and consistent documentation would have avoided the majority of this. And the talented individuals would also have had more time to work on other things, learn new skills and get even better at crafting in a more broad sense instead of only playing fire department.

And finally, I can reassure you that there will always be room for “individuals” and “heroes” to do their craft and also save the day. Most systems don’t run like clockwork, there are always bugs, weird failures, strange oddities, most systems will need saving at some point. So, creativity and craft will generally have a place and value.