I’ve been noticing this with little everyday automations more than the flashy stuff. The first time a shortcut saves me 20 minutes, it feels genius… then a month later I catch myself not remembering how to do the manual version at all.
That part weirds me out a bit. Where do y’all draw the line between using the helpful automation and keeping the skill alive on purpose?
I believe the distinction lies between what skill is one that you still need to grasp versus one that’s a repetitive skill.
For me automation is wonderful to get rid of busywork but I want to know how the process works under the hood. I don’t want to have to be totally in the dark if the automation goes sour. But I do not feel like having to do things manually only to make people think I’m not able to do them anymore.
The key to automating is this: DO NOT automate the understanding. If you still have an understanding of the why of something and you can determine the how if necessary, you should be okay. Automation is troublesome only when it becomes a crutch without understanding.
That “don’t automate the understanding” line hits, but hidden state is where I get burned, so I keep a 5-step manual checklist.
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