“I hate doing this. Over and over. There’s gotta be a better way.”
Listen to that. Pursue that.
Paradoxically, laziness can be a great motivator for producing value.
Daily one-pagers about AI, leadership, technology, and being human.
johnmaconline
I'm writing to think, learn, and remember in public. I'll be here everyday.
No More Flow State
Do you know the flow state?
Flow is one of the most magical parts of coding. Like other creative endeavors, when coding goes well, you drop into that flow state. Time vanishes. The ideas keep coming. The solutions present themselves. The code flows out of your fingertips.
But we don’t write the code anymore. The agents do.
I haven’t felt that flow state since. Now, I get way more of that frantic state managing all of the tasks that the agents do for me.
I don’t like that part.
Do agents get into the flow state?
The Time Tax
Convenience usually comes at a premium price.
Living within walking distance of the train station, restaurants, stores, or trails usually costs more than living somewhere you need to drive. Eggs at WaWa cost more than they do at the grocery store. The nonstop flight costs more than the one with a connection. Emergency plumbing services cost more than if he comes next Wednesday at 10 am.
We pay to remove friction.
At the expense of time.
Trade time for money. We’ve been doing it since the dawn of civilization.
Will AI invert that?
I’m not sure, but I’ve got my eye on it.
Wondering
I wonder…
- if I had been born in a different era, could I have been an astronaut?
- how life would have turned out if I had pursued music, taken the Apple job, or moved to California.
- what work will look like 20 years from now.
- why one of my cats loves to catch critters, and the other doesn’t.
- why some winters I have a plethora of golden finches at my feeder, and others I have none.
- what our grandkids will be into.
- if I will be healthy in 10 years.
- why the lower angle of the sun and its light in the fall changes how a day feels.
- why a 55-degree day in July feels terrible but in February feels amazing.
- if I will finish writing a book.
- if I should stay at my current company.
- why some days I wake up feeling optimistic, and others I wake up feeling dread.
- how I can be more present.
- how I can be someone that people want around.
- how does AI work?
Wondering what if, what was, what is, what could have been, how, and why. All of the feelings.
Wonder beats the pants off of going through the motions.
Niceties
We all probably know when we’re being fed “niceties.”
Still, it can be nice to hear.
Never miss an opportunity to make someone feel good about themselves.
Think Different
Apple started this advertising campaign in 1997 and it continued through 2002, but it still lives on some product boxes and in the literature.
Does it matter? Does it mean anything? Is it just words?
Yes, it’s advertising. So it’s just a slogan to sell products. A great idea.
However, I think it’s a better slogan for today. Not for selling Apple’s or anybody else’s products, but for how you should show up in the working world.
AI breaks a new dawn.
Show up and think different.
Consistency and Variability
Much of our world is built for consistency.
Assembly lines. Machines. At scale. Chain restaurants and hotels. Insurance policies. Public transportation. Highways. AI coders and support chatbots. Heck, our public education system.
All built for consistency. Whatever you put in, wherever you are, get the same stuff out. Somebody designed it (probably with data), and the process enforces it.
Why is that?
It’s a little bit for the customers.
Consistency helps one avoid the unknown. I know what I’m getting. There’s value there. In fact, maybe more value than whether the person actually likes it. “Phew. It’s just as I expected it.” Deterministic is a powerful sedative.
But it rewards the designers of the system.
Consistency of output breeds consistency of outcomes, financial statements, and KPI’s. It allows efficiencies in process and labor. It unlocks bigger margins with smaller investment.
Where does that leave you?
Not us. Because the consistency is designed for us.
You.
You are variable. Yes, even you introverted engineers.
It’s up to you to be on the lookout for variable delight.
Franticicity
Franticicity (noun) – The measurable intensity of chaos, urgency, and rushed activity in a system.
AI incentivizes us into a state of franticicity.
It’s our job to calm the chaos.
Reasoning Efforst and Context Size
Where should we go to eat?
Reasoning effort is how much work you put it into it. How much research and logic you apply. Did you do a search on the map? Are you looking for a particular cuisine or vibe? Wanna watch the game? Any allergies to consider? Don’t wanna drive too far?
All of that takes reasoning effort.
Context size is how much of this you keep in your brain while deciding. Maybe you didn’t do a search because you’re local and you’re deciding among places you already know across the region. Or maybe you’re narrowing it further because you wanna go to one of your three “regular” places at which the bartender knows your name.
That list in your head is your context size.
This is how you can think about how to select this when using AI.
Managing
What makes a good manager?
Is it people skills? Getting the team to deliver on time? Transparency? Communication? Vision?
The only correct answer is, “That depends.”
Is it from the employee standpoint (managing down)? Executive standpoint (managing up)? Shareholder’s standpoint? What does each care about in this specific context?
In many real ways, managing a team of AI agents is very much like managing a team of people. Successfully managing those agents takes many of the same skills. Get better at those skills, and you’ll have more success.
However, there is a big difference. It may seem obvious.
AI agents are not people. No matter what the current argument around AGI and anthropomorphism suggests.
People have feelings. They have experiences, desires, dislikes, bad nights of sleep, children, extended families, partners, and lives.
AI agents have none of that.
As such, managing a team of AI holds a lot of appeal for managers burned out on the people side of the job. A manager of AI can focus on the process and output. The technical delivery. The building of stuff by the team. The question of “what did we get done and how good is it?”
I admit it. I find it appealing sometimes.
Now leadership has choice and opportunity. Manage AI or people? Manage AI and people?
What makes a good manager?