...
- "Think about the mediation of software; this is a warehouse at Amazon.com. What they call a 'product distribution center' or something like that. And there's a bunch of workers wandering around there, filling up boxes with things. But the workers really have no idea what they're doing. What the workers are actually doing is following instructions on a computer which is strapped to their wrist, which is literally telling them exactly where to walk, what to do, what to pick off the shelf, they don't have to know what it is, they just have to scan it with the little barcode and throw it in the box. And so the entire process is mediated through software, through computer software. And in fact, when you think about it, those workers, in an Amazon warehouse, are really just a kind of output device for the software developer who's trying to write code that is going to cause a box to be packaged and shipped and sent somewhere."
Simple English websites
Companies
Linters
Misc ideas
- When programming it's really helpful to step through the code, one step at a time. Similarly, when people-programming, it could be very helpful for managers to "step-through" the steps involved in their subordinates' jobs in order to get a sense of where things are going wrong. But AFAIK most managers never do this.
- When dealing with human employees there's often a lack of standardization that makes it difficult to efficiently call for help
- Humans often don't have an efficient way of referring to a series of steps that they need to follow. For example it's not like the next instruction they need to follow just pops up in front of their face.
- Think about different computer innovations like tor and what the analogous application might look like with humans.
Related ideas
- McDonald's' extensive operating manuals
- The US military's extensive field manuals