Humans or machines?

I think we need to be very careful. It’s important for our shaping as humans and our mental health. We need to reconsider how we look back at what we are proud of, and how we celebrate.

I have been thinking about our line of work for some time. I mean, product engineering or software engineering, or what we call it today.
It’s a never-ending story of incremental work, often small packages, if we’re lucky, they’re actually features visible on the front end which others can see. But most of the time it isn’t.

What does this do to us?

To live life like a kanban board, just keep going. Release this, release that. Perhaps celebrate a major release. But how are we looking back at work when there is no physical product to look at? When the product we made even just a year ago, is not recognisable today?

Frankly, it’s concerning to me. With my last organisation, I was ready to frame pictures of releases, print screens, etc., and hang them on the wall.
Sadly, I never did, but I am sure I would have, if I had been able to (now).

I have a friend who works in a factory, he showed me their latest product. Had it in his pocket. He was shining like the sun when he told me the story. My grandfather could show me a piece from the factory and tell me stories about that exact piece, about his contribution to that piece.

We learn from history. How will we look back at our work and feel proud, when there’s nothing to look back at? What will we show our loved ones?

I think we need to be very careful. It’s important for our shaping as humans and our mental health. We need to reconsider how we look back at what we are proud of, and how we celebrate.

Humans or machines? 🤖

My short series of Edge Engineering was triggered by this thinking.

The series:

“Aware of our competitors’ shift towards digital solutions, including the adoption of e-ink devices in brick-and-mortar stores, we knew we had to innovate”
https://lnkd.in/dWtmty_f

“10+ million IKEA QR scans later, I am happy we walked across that street those years ago”
https://lnkd.in/du8aGSUh

“By the time I left IKEA, CHECKA had helped distribute over 10,000 items to our colleagues.”
https://lnkd.in/dXHxwU4f