DaedTech

Stories about Software

Oct
14

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Generative AI and the Bullshit Singularity

Category: The Life of a Programmer | Leave a Comment

I haven’t forgotten about my promise to discuss the concept of facadeware.  The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune continue their assault on me as I navigate, among other things, two relocations in two months.  I want to write the series, and I plan to write the series, but I’ve been busy.  Nonetheless, thanks to those who read the first installment and the smattering of donations that were eventually refunded.

Anyway, as I thought about how to continue that series, I realized that I’d have to talk about generative AI.  In the year of our Lord 2025, if I were to avoid talking about GenAI for as long as 15 minutes, I’m pretty some kind of Harrison-Bergeron-universe agent would break into my house and electrocute me.

Generative AI Isn’t Facadeware

First, let me say that what I’m describing as facadeware predates generative AI’s explosion onto the mainstream in 2022.  I also don’t think GenAI is an example of facadeware.  At least, not exactly.

In the previous post, I briefly defined facadeware as “superficially advanced gadgetry that actually has a net negative value proposition.”  And while GenAI clearly has a (to date and for the foreseeable future) net-negative value proposition, I wouldn’t categorize it as superficially advanced.  It is genuinely advanced, and it is an impressive feat of experimentation and human ingenuity.

And so because of this, GenAI/LLM techs don’t really have a place in the facadeware series (though I think the concept of “agentic AI” does qualify).  However, I want to dump my bucket on this subject both because I know people will invariably bring it up for discussion and because I think a relationship, if not direct, does exist.

The Role of Bullshit in GenAI and Facadeware

Bullshit, as a concept, plays a foundational but different role in both GenAI and in facadeware.  The role of bullshit in facadeware is relatively simple.  To sell anything with a net-negative value proposition, almost by definition, requires bullshit.  Bullshit is the fuel of the facadeware engine.

GenAI kind of inverts this.  With GenAI, the fuel of the engine is human ingenuity, and the output is bullshit.  In other words, some of the best and brightest minds in all of enterprise Silicon Valley have produced a technological advancement that is to bullshit what cold fusion would be to energy output.  It was an improbable and unexpected giant leap forward in humanity’s collective capacity to generate bullshit.

So if you were to look for a relationship between facadeware and GenAI, the most likely scenario is that you would either use GenAI to generate facadeware or simply to market it.

Defining Bullshit Somewhat Rigorously

Now, before I go and make you think this is a simple exercise in Luddite shitposting, let me be clear that I actually have nothing against bullshit in moderation.  Anything you do on social media is more or less bullshit, and plenty of self-soothing and self-indulgent narratives, like schadenfreude fantasies, are bullshit.

Now, let’s actually define bullshit with some precision before I lumber onwards with this rant.  The dictionary in Google give us a short, sweet take:

bull·shit
/ˈbo͝olˌSHit/
vulgar slang
noun
noun: bullshit
1. stupid or untrue talk or writing; nonsense

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Sep
30

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The Awesome Power of Self-Deprecation in ContentOps

Category: Tech Content Marketing | Leave a Comment

I promise you that I’m going to make some grammar mistakes and maybe even factual errors in this post.  Well, promise might be strong.  But it’s quite likely at least.

The reason, dear reader, is that I simply don’t care enough to remedy that ostensibly bad situation.  That, and the fact that I read at a 5th-grade level on a good day, combine to deliver you a wholly and unapologetically unpolished experience, should you read on.

The Inline Self-Deprecation Example

Real quick, let’s go meta.

What I just did there is something that I do all the time when writing, and I do it reflexively, without really thinking.  I self-deprecate because it’s kind of fun, and come on, we shouldn’t really take ourselves too seriously.  But beyond that, what I did actually serves a pretty significant purpose from an operations and efficiency perspective.

I neatly eliminated the need for at least one quality assurance step (and some person-hours) in my content production.

To wit, it’s now not super important that I have an editor take a grammar pass through this, nor that I find some flavor of SME to fact check.  Why would I bother?  I’ve already inoculated against the critique of “but you did a bad grammar!” and against the critique of “that is factually incorrect, sir!”

Imagine how stupid one of those comments would look in the comments section when I not only hinted at, but practically promised, those outcomes.

I didn’t need to pay an editor, and I didn’t need to pay a QA SME.  I just needed to explain that I don’t care enough about those things to spend that time and money.

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Jul
24

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The Facadeware Problem, But, Also, Help Me Beat My Car to Death

Category: The Life of a Programmer | 1 Comment

Make no mistake.  This is a shitpost.

But it’s also going to be more than a simple shit post.  Let me explain.

  1. I’ve created an IndieGogo campaign to help us do what Stellantis should have done itself: take the dangerous car they sold me off the road and destroy it.
  2. I’m going to use this post as the start of a series of blog posts where I’ll describe the absolutely bonkers, completely unbelievable Odessey of owning a ’23 Grand Cherokee.  But I’ll use those posts to also describe a bigger problem with technology that I’ve come to think of as “the facadeware problem.”  And a Jeep Grand Cherokee with “lane assist” that sometimes slams on its own brakes for absolutely no reason is the poster child for the facadeware problem (which I’ll describe later in the post, and more in the series).

But let’s start with the shitpost and the IndieGoGo.

It’s not just me — Consumer Reports has no good things to say about recent Grand Cherokees.

Our Latest Engine Fire

On July 9th, my wife took our 4-year-old to the pediatrician in our apparently normally functioning (that day) 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit Reserve.  After leaving from his blood draw, lollipop in hand, they got into the car, she hit the start button, and both of them watched, bemused, as smoke started billowing from under the hood of the suddenly completely disabled car.

Boom, 0 to Jeep-nuts roasting on an open fire in the literal push of a button.

Amanda stayed calm though.  This wasn’t her first rodeo.  Far from it.

Our brand new, top-line trim Grand Cherokee has spent about 4 months in the shop since we bought it at the end of 2022, often completely disabled and non-functional in a variety of ways that defy belief.  For those keeping score at home, our new car has spent about 13% of its existence being repaired.  Heck, this wasn’t even the first time it lit itself on fire at startup and been towed for the same.

Here we are, in 2024, when the same, then 1.5-year-old, Jeep also self-immolated and turned our date night into a frantic scramble to get a tow, locate a cab, and get home to our son who was with a babysitter that graciously stayed until 11 PM.  I’m coming to think of this routine mad dash as the “Jeep Scramble.”  Maybe they can make a lightly singed one of those stupid Jeep ducks to commemorate it on our dashboard.

So, Amanda knew the deal.  Get a ride to Enterprise, because that’s Jeep’s loaner company of record.  Open probably our 12th or 13th case with Jeep Customer Care to get our 12th or 13th rental car and do the usual: get everything ready for tow, submit for rental reimbursement and start the ball rolling on the paperwork.

More than a week later, our lemon ’23 Grand Cherokee was still at the dealer lot to which it was towed that day.  It was set to remain there, apparently, until August 8th, which is the soonest any Jeep dealership could even LOOK at it.

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Jun
9

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Surviving the Great Commoditizer: Stop Getting ‘Good’ at ChatGPT

Category: Business of Freelancing |

Editorial note: I originally published this over on Hit Subscribe’s blog.

I know, it’s been a while.  For anyone wondering if I’d given up the blogging habit, I haven’t.  I just forgot how to read for a bit.

Luckily, however, I have a 4-year old that loves Dr Seuss, so that’s gotten me back on track and no worse for the wear, except for my new penchant to follow people around like an absolute maniac, trying to get them to eat eggs and ham.

Instead of returning to form with one of the many productive tutorials I have in mind, today I rant.  But I think it will be productive and even help some of you reading.

I’m going to do a deep-dive on why I think getting ‘good’ at ChatGPT (my stand-in for all LLM techs) isn’t the flex you might think, and why it’s quite likely actively bad for your career.  But I’ll also offer my take on what to do instead, that will be good for your career.

Before that, however, we’ve got a lot of ground to cover about who, exactly, this advice is for (digital technicians) and how, exactly, commoditization works in the form of a commoditization lifecycle.

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Nov
6

By

How to Delegate Effectively as Your Responsibility Grows

Category: Tech Content Marketing |

Editorial note: I originally published this on the Hit Subscribe blog.

I’m gearing up, like some kind of power washer, to spray new productized services into our operations group so they can SOP those services at scale.  And because I’m doing that, this seemed like a good moment to draw on my experience, both in leadership roles and as a management consultant, and lay out a blueprint for internal delegation.

I debated musing about this over on DaedTech, especially since programmers uniquely struggle when asked to delegate (for reasons I’ll get into in a bit).  But then I figured you marketers out there reading likely also have challenges when flipping from individual contributor (IC) to team leader in a growing organization.  So whether you’d have offered a penny or not, here are my thoughts on delegation.

Delegation as a Function of Org Chart

Let me start by explaining how successful delegators at each level of the org chart delegate to their direct reports, in broad strokes.

  • Executives: “You are accountable for this organizational goal.  Your deliverable to me is a plan and overseeing execution of that plan.”
  • Middle Management: “You are accountable for successfully executing this plan.  Your deliverable to me is judgement-based execution of the plan in a fluid environment.”
  • Supervisors: “You are accountable for these KPIs.  Your deliverable to me is executing the tasks that generate the KPIs.”

Now, let’s look at how ICs (and unsuccessful supervisors) tend to delegate.

  • ICs: “You are accountable for nothing.  Your deliverable to me is an execution of tasks to my exact specification.”

At the risk of restating the obvious, let’s pause here and observe something.  Successful delegation involves both tasks and accountability.  Unsuccessful delegation cedes only tasks and retains a vice grip on all accountability.

I don’t pay you to think!

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