222. Automating Processes with Software is HARD

Something about automation that I believe is that it is *way* more difficult to do than most imagine. Most look at problems to automate from the outside—a process they find tiresome, slow, yet repetitious. They often don’t think of their own skills and tasks as easily automated. The reality is much more difficult. Most people who have built an automation know, or at least come to know, just how fragile it is. It is fragile because steps are not followed. Tools and connections fail in unexpected ways. Or most critically because the inputs are not nearly as precise or complete as they need to be. And they come to know that addressing any of those is wildly complex. Ask any engineer that has designed their own CBCI, build, or deployment process and they will tell you “don’t touch it” unless I am around. Thanks for reading Hardcore Software by Steven Sinofsky! Subscribe for free to receive new posts. There’s a deep reality about any process—human or automated—that few seem to acknowledge.

Something about automation that I believe is that it is *way* more difficult to do than most imagine. Most look at problems to automate from the outside—a process they find tiresome, slow, yet repetitious. They often don’t think of their own skills and tasks as easily automated. The reality is much more difficult. Most people who have built an automation know, or at least come to know, just how fragile it is. It is fragile because steps are not followed. Tools and connections fail in unexpected ways. Or most critically because the inputs are not nearly as precise or complete as they need to be