Automation is bad
Automate everything*
Agenda
- What automation is, and why we automate
- What to consider when automating
- Automation gone wrong
$ whoami
Grandma: I hear they're turning shipping containers into affordable housing!
— Lucy Wyman (@lucycwyman) December 29, 2018
Me to Eli: Even at Christmas, it's just docker docker docker
Lucy Wyman
Software Engineer | Bolt Influencer at Puppet
What Is Automation?
What Is Automation?
"Automation is the technology by which a process or procedure is performed without human assistance." - Wikipedia
Focus on software automation
Why Do We Automate?
To Save Human Time
For Consistency | Stability | Fewer Mistakes
Visibility
Because We Don't Enjoy a Task
To Save Money
To be clear, automation is pretty great
What To Consider When Automating
Is It Worth It?
Is It Worth It?
Costs & Savings
| Costs | Savings |
|---|---|
| Time & Money | Time & Money |
| Maintenance | Maintenance |
| Sanity | Sanity |
| Security | Security |
| Flexibility | Flexibility |
| Education | Education |
Ethical Considerations
- Who profits from this automation?
- Codifying your unconscious bias
- What are the impacts? Who might this impact?
- Do you understand what you do to make this decision?
- Are the parameters limited and well understood?
Job Loss
- Previous industrial and automation revolutions have shown that people just get other, usually better jobs
Are profits of automation evenly distributed?
When Not To Automate
- Low-volume tasks
- Instead write great docs on how to do it!
- Tasks that require human context - many decision points
- UX testing
- Complex tasks
- High-risk tasks
- Instead, have human 'check points' to verify high-risk tasks
Automation Can
- Make you lose sight of your goal
- Be difficult to adopt
- Cause failure at scale
Automation Gone Wrong
Suggestions
Dear Amazon, I bought a toilet seat because I needed one. Necessity, not desire. I do not collect them. I am not a toilet seat addict. No matter how temptingly you email me, I'm not going to think, oh go on then, just one more toilet seat, I'll treat myself.
— Jac Rayner (@GirlFromBlupo) April 6, 2018
Suggestions
Breastfeeding Photos Flagged as Nudity
Stock Exchange Automation
Hiring AI
Facial Recognition Software
The Takeaway: Don't be afraid of automation, automate with respect
Automate software, not too much, mostly maths
Resources
Questions?
