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May 1, 2023Liked by John Birmingham

As someone who's peers are few and far between, it makes no difference to me whether I'm in the office or not regarding institutional memory (it's much more just human to human interaction that benefits), and even when we have been working on the same farm, we've always been in different paddocks, ringfenced by potential conflicts of interest, so the unique skill set I have will go nowhere. I'm a one man band because I'm competent, so no mentoring for me. Unless I write a book, but even then the audience is likely to be just a few hundred peeps. Hardly seems worth it.

AI will play a part, not so much in producing content as such, but in analysis of large amounts of data and spitting out results. The problem lies in the morons who will lap up those results without due consideration. I know because they do it now with my meatsack generated output. They just don't know what they don't know.

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coming from a finance background (insert the pantomime boo hiss and "he's behind you") it was a bit the same. I've been out of that city environment for years now but those long boozy lunches where you could sneak off for a few with the office but then equally put in some hard hours helping other people move money around it was a fun environment. And i learnt a lot. Those xmas parties of excess though? Hooboy.

I suspect the same thing is happening there as it is in the newsrooms - it was a moment in time. As a different generation comes through the ranks and remote work is more common i'm optimistic that gender equality will be a footnote in history - especially the misogynistic harassment side of things and that seems to go by the wayside as alcohol loses its grip.

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"it was a moment in time"

Sure was. And we try to hang onto these things when they were good, but nothing lasts forever. Good or bad.

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This speaks to me of teams. I miss teams, being part of a group. Hopefully, the one workforce that will still last are kitchens, and kitchens for high end restaurants.

Group of people with a singular dedicated focus - check.

All sorts of side hussles and activities going on - check.

Grizzled older characters with equal balance of good work wisdom and bad life habits - check.

Potential for absolute benders and hours of you life going MIA - definite check.

Don't get me wrong, they have evolved. The open kitchen has probably extended the life of many apprentices (and shorted the career of a few head chefs!) by putting everyone on stage. No room for tom foolery or straight up bullying.

Do I miss it, yeah probably.

Would I go back, shit no.

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OMFG, my favourite thing in the world is to sit at a bar outside an open kitchen and watch order emerge from chaos. It NEVER fails to impress me how any of them do it.

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Interesting as an archival/historical piece. I'm fascinated with what the possibilities will be in 100years from now for this function.

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As you note about institutional memory, there's a universal aspect to this; some entry level staff joining my organisation in the past couple of years have barely had any experience of day to day showing up to an office and just being in the mix.

As for "it's all gonna be done by AI". I don't know. I really don't. Basically, 40 years ago we were being assured that it was all gonna be done by robots. Realistically, yes, the workplace changes and I think it's fair to be worried that jobs can be deskilled. So we don't need mechanics to fix our cars, we just need technicians capable of removing and replacing parts, changing tyres and filling up wiper fluid.

The broader truth, I hope, is that mechanisation and automation has been with us for the past 220-odd years, and we've still managed to find work for pretty much everyone.

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I find myself in two minds about the AI stuff. It can be a super useful tool, and I'm not adverse to using it as such. But it will probably kill us all, too.

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