Traction Heroes Ep. 34: Automation Complacency

Automation doesn’t just do work for us: it changes how we experience work, sometimes leading to unexpected consequences. Technology can make us complacent, leading us to make mistakes. In episode 34 of Traction Heroes, Harry told of a time when he drifted off course by following GPS navigation instructions. Instead of the airport, he ended in a remote part of Virginia — and almost missed his flight. Things like this happen. Harry also cited a compelling story from Nicholas Carr’s The Glass Cage: Automation complacency has been documented in many high-risk situations, from battlefields to industrial control rooms, to bridges of ships and submarines. In one classic case involving a 1,500-passenger ocean liner named The Royal Majesty, which in the spring of 1995 was sailing from Bermuda to Boston on the last leg of a one week cruise. The ship was outfitted with a state-of-the-art automated navigation system that used GPS signals to keep it on course. An hour into the voyage, the cable…