If there is one thing I should have learned by now, something that I know in theory: expectations always end in disappointment. Especially in my field, because computers and software are inherently disappointing. And yet, in my optimistic[1] naïveté I keep running into it.
This week I was trying a piece of software for work – it doesn’t matter what it was, it’s not their fault – and because I knew it in a different context where it worked really well and is very useful, I figured it would work really well and be very useful in our workflow as well. I excitedly told people about it and everything. If it worked it would automate away a tedious task that nobody enjoys.
And of course, it does not work. It works a bit, but only in a way that adds more tedium, which is pretty counterproductive. (Even though it is a pretty obvious analogy to almost all technological progress.)
Usually I’m quite good at having a little shrug in these situations and looking for some other solution, but for some reason this thing really brought down my mood today. Ugh.
Filed under: blogposts that should have been a therapy session. But yeah, I do feel a bit better after publishing it, thanks for asking.
- I’m as surprised as you are. ↩