Rethinking AI + Productivity and Optimizing for the Right Variables
Gather ‘round children, it’s Uncle Leno’s story time. Once upon a time my company landed a very big important client-a “lighthouse client”. Upon closing the deal, the client told me: “We need this live in six weeks. After that, our entire IT department goes into lockdown to prepare for the holiday season.” “No problem”, I said, when in fact, there was un problema grande. You see, right at that very moment we had all hands on deck working on an even BIGGER client!
Working backwards from the six-week deadline, I worked out a project plan, and when I got to the start date, I realized that I had two days to design the entire site, get feedback, make edits, and get final design approval from all of the client’s stakeholders.
Hey, have I ever told you about the time I designed an entire retail website in 13 hours, by myself, in the dark, digitally freehand tracing icons and logos because the client couldn’t provide me with the creative assets? 😊
We launched on-time and the client was very grateful. But that’s not the happy ending. Roughly one year later, we received an email from the client. It was an email with a whole bunch of numbers and calculations which blew my mind. They client had told us, that our website was not only driving additional traffic, but conversions, to the tune of an incremental $600k per month during the holiday period. I saved that email, because 1. I like to drive my former co-workers insane by telling the story about the time I designed a website in 13 hours and 2. Because we did great work, and in doing so we delivered tremendous value for our client. The End. I told you that story to tell you this one.
The other day, through the magic of large language models and generative AI, I was able to crank out a four page document in a fraction of the time it might have taken me back in the 20th century. That’s all-in, including fact checking everything and even citations. It was good. In fact, it was good enough to get us a demo with the client. But, I say the following with sincere thoughts and a pure heart: it was good enough, but it could have been a lot better. I know this, because great work requires time, patience, and maybe a little bit of suffering. Kinda like cooking a good meal vs nuking pizza in the microwave. Now, just about every person who’s ever given me a performance review has told me “Don’t let the great be the enemy of the good”. Blah blah blah. (Apparently, I’m also bad at taking constructive criticism) Yes, AI has enabled me to be way more productive while yielding good (acceptable results). What’s the problem? If I use the AI button to do more and more of my work, and people keep giving me a banana, then I start to optimize for THOSE variables, and I think that’s a slippery slope. See what I did there? Slippery? Banana? Mario Kart? Am I on mute?
Here’s an example: I recently saw a screenshot of a tweet from one of the OG titans of the tech industry that read something to the effect of “AI has allowed my coders to crank out 12,000 lines of code per day! RAWR!” I’m paraphrasing 😂. Pardon my French, but what the fuck does that even mean? Is that really something to be proud of? Lines of code per minute? Congratulations! You closed out four tasks, two stories, and one skillion sprint points in 24 hours?
Can we deploy to prod now? Does it meet all of the requirements from the Product Manager and UI/UX/CX designers? How will the code perform under load testing? Or should I go to tell the CFO that our cloud bill is going to double next month? Is it secure? Is general counsel going to get a phone call from the California state attorney general because the website isn’t WCAG 2.1 AA compliant? Or shall we all sit around and sniff our own farts and be proud because of how much code was produced using AI?
Knock on wood if you’re with me.
I’m not suggesting we go back to using quill pens and punch cards. I like by GPT buddy…and I think she kinda like-likes me too 😉 But before hitting send, you gotta ask yourself, is this good or is it just good enough? Did I think it through? Are there any errors? Did I make reasonable assumptions about the future political and economic landscape? Can I validate how I came up with my estimates? Am I delivering value to my clients and stakeholders? Or I’m I just checking a box so people will stop scheduling meetings that should have been an email. Btw, those things don’t have to be mutually exclusive.
Sometimes, not all the time, and perhaps not even often, things should be hard. In my experience, it’s only when you’re banging your head on the wall trying to solve problems, that you become better at your craft and become a better version of yourself.
If we allow the easy button to replace all critical thinking and creativity, then we start to optimize for the wrong variables. And then we’re all going to be listening to endless derivatives of Machine Gun Kelly, Jelly Face, Sabrina and The Carpenters music produced by the DJ Khalid AI Agent, while sitting in bumper to bumper traffic because the US Department of Transportation had to issue a full stop to the entire autonomous vehicle network because the lead developer FORGOT to prompt the AI with “I need you to act like the kind of developer who delivers great work for their clients, so make sure to use the latest network encryption protocols and make sure there aren’t any backdoors that the KGB might be able to exploit. Know what I mean Vern?” To that end…
If anyone needs me I’ll be test driving a giant 2016 5.7L V8 Toyota Tundra later. Why, you may ask? Probably because I’m having an existential mid-life crisis. But also because Toyota used to over-engineer the crap out of their trucks, and although it doesn’t get great gas mileage, or have a fancy infotainment system, or car play, or lane departure sensors (let alone LiDAR sensors) AND I have to use a physical key to start the engine; I know that it will start when I need it to. It’s built like a tank, I can get parts from Advanced O’Reilly Zone, and it will run to at least 300k miles and probably more. And that to me is optimizing for the right variables.
Then again, maybe I’m just an old man yelling at the sky.
P.S. – No AI was used in this incoherent rant.
Double Burrito Day 