This thread by Dr. Cat Hicks is one of the most thought provoking things I’ve read this year. I highly recommend you follow Cat on Twitter. Here is (most of) the thread: Doing research with developer teams, something that really strikes me is how much people look for ways to make complex problems easy rather than make it easy to work on complex problems
John, this reminds me of my time at AOL in the 90’s and 00’s. There were some in the tech space that belittled those of us working on the tech product behind the AOL experience. But those same tech literates were using the early internet tech that was ridiculously complicated for the average human (even by todays standards with more tech literacy those original products are mostly suitable for devs not civvies). So when they’d laugh at us and say we were building training wheels for the internet, I would discuss just how hard and complex it was to do that! And remember - this was pre-broadband, so delivering rich, visual experiences that were easy to use was hella hard to do! And me and my fellow AOLrs loved every minute of it.
It's not just developers. There are entire consultancies devoted to monetizing organizations with complex problems by promising them they can "simplify" them. It's complicit denial of a complex world.
If any consultant comes to you telling you they can simplify your complex problems so that they can magically disappear ... run away. Do not pass Go.
John, this reminds me of my time at AOL in the 90’s and 00’s. There were some in the tech space that belittled those of us working on the tech product behind the AOL experience. But those same tech literates were using the early internet tech that was ridiculously complicated for the average human (even by todays standards with more tech literacy those original products are mostly suitable for devs not civvies). So when they’d laugh at us and say we were building training wheels for the internet, I would discuss just how hard and complex it was to do that! And remember - this was pre-broadband, so delivering rich, visual experiences that were easy to use was hella hard to do! And me and my fellow AOLrs loved every minute of it.
It's not just developers. There are entire consultancies devoted to monetizing organizations with complex problems by promising them they can "simplify" them. It's complicit denial of a complex world.
If any consultant comes to you telling you they can simplify your complex problems so that they can magically disappear ... run away. Do not pass Go.
We have put some considerable thought into this John and pleased to organise a call to discuss - https://www.makemeaningfulwork.com/