The invisible work

No one noticed the build setup until everything broke. All of a sudden, every run was a failure - the fault came from a dependency of a dependency relying on a more modern version of software than we had.

But like the delicate ecosystem we had in place, we couldn’t simply upgrade Node 16 in this case, our unmaintained Webpack 4 wasn’t compatible, and the long chain of complicated dependencies meant that upgrading wasn’t an easy path. The lesson I took away from this wasn’t about upgrading or maintaining software, it was this: value the invisible work done in your organisation, that is the work and effort that people in your organisation do that keeps everything running smoothly, everyone happy, but almost entirely flies under the radar.

I think about the conversations with domain experts that change the trajectory of the work that was going to be done, the guidance that produced something far better than was planned. Or in some cases causes people to avoid retreading the same paths we’ve already learned from.

I think about the culture that a coworker brings that makes work more enjoyable, richer and fun. Think about the amount of times people mention ‘the people’ as the reason they work somewhere. It’s what helps you turn up every day in a good mood to do the work that needs to be done.

I think about the tools people build off their own steam to make life easier for each other, the amount of time that’s saved is scaled by the number of employees multiplied by the number of hours saved and keeps paying off in dividends.

But each of these things silently happens in the background, a conversation on a video chat - a template or process you used but didn’t know the history of, the documentation someone wrote three years ago to explain how a system fit together that saved a week of investigation, a design system embedded through your application where you never have to know how this particular dialog came to be or how to build it, you just use it whenever that picture appears in the design.

The industry has an obsession with output, 10x and developer rockstars, AI replacing coding to produce at break-neck pace, but the parts where we bring value - the things that differentiate us from someone starting out - are all the things that glue it all together.

AI is a tangible threat to the visible parts of a developer’s job, knowing the finer details of how things work matters a lot less, from the point of view of someone allocating capital - they put the money in, they get a (let’s assume) working application out of it.

In that, AI is a threat to what your hands can ultimately provide - but not entirely of what your mind is capable - the complex relationships, context and understanding of how people do their best work together.

I often think about the best people I’ve worked with, because reflecting on them helps me know how I can be better - and all of the best people I’ve worked with have brought so much of this invisible work with little ask for reward. They know how the systems fit together, they put in the work to pay forward and develop the culture and make workplaces a joy to work in, and ultimately - AI will never replace them.