Roger Wong writing about the Uber COO saying justifying token costs is getting harder

When factories converted from steam power to electricity in the 1880s, they swapped out the engines and did nothing else. The floor plan and workflow didn’t change. For three decades, output barely moved. Only when companies redesigned their factories and process around the new technology did they see an increase in output.

While the analogy doesn't fully work (not sure whether replacing steam with electricity doubled the operating costs) but the message is clear: until we redesign the ways of working, we won't see the full benefits. I have been thinking a lot about this especially regarding async coding practices and mainly about decoupling the human time from the coding effect. Then again, Dan Shipper was just arguing for tight coupling agents and humans so maybe the redesign is something else.