AI is a tech debt multiplier
At least the way most companies use it.
I'm rereading "The Pragmatic Programmer", and within the first few pages they address Software Entropy. It can also be called technical debt, which is the term I’ll use.
If you're not a tech nerd like me, it basically just means things have a tendency to move toward disorder, and software and code is no exception.
What I love about this section in the book is they talk about the psychology of entropy, and research into urban decay. Researchers found that a single broken window was all it took for an otherwise beautiful building to become a run down mess. If a broken window was left un-repaired for an extended amount of time, then soon enough there were more broken windows, graffiti, litter.
So when issues arise, we should address them as soon as possible. Because psychologically that broken window tells the inhabitants that the people at the top don't care, and:
“if they don't care, why should I?”
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That's what I'm seeing in the tech field, as AI allows people to move faster and faster, and leadership pushes for new features and new tools, so they can try to justify the exorbitant amount they're paying for AI.
There is a graveyard of half finished tools and projects at work, that make even my ADHD brain cringe. There are issues we need to slow down and fix, but management won't let us slow down, because they're convinced that AI should be allowing us to move at the speed of light, so..
"get more done peasants!"
Then the same management comes back a few weeks later asking why a project isn't going faster, and "didn't engineering build that AI tool for this last month?".
You mean this tool over here? The one that's not finished? The one that's supposed to help me categorize products, but tells me that Sprite is a coffee, or that chips should go under the "VAPE" category? Oh yes Bill, let me get right on that.
Even worse though, is what it's doing to my coworkers, and what I fight every day against myself...
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Just like the example of the broken window, when there's so much broken code, half finished projects we don't have time to wrap up, and unrealistic expectations... People just stop caring. You either work nights and weekends to get it done the right way, or you ship slop knowing it's not good, but that your job depends on it. And in this market, everyone is just doing what they can to survive.
And as someone who grew up in the slums, I can tell you the broken window theory holds true. As stuff breaks in the building, but your slumlord never fixes it, you just learn to live with it. It took years after leaving home for me to realize that the way I grew up wasn't "normal".
Because we can adapt to just about anything. We're survival machines, it's what we do best. Maybe the learned helplessness of layoffs, unreal expectations, and massive amounts of technical debt accumulating faster than we can solve it is going to be the new norm.
In the military I learned a saying that always stuck with me:
"Slow is smooth, smooth is fast".
It's almost always better, (and ironically, faster), to slow down and get it right the first time.
But as the need for speed increases, I believe we're going to see the technical debt continue to grow, while leadership says "eh, good enough. We'll work out the bugs later".
But as we all know, saying "I'll deal with my debt later" is a surefire path to bankruptcy.
And let's hope these companies figure that out before it's too late.