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This is mostly self inflicted though. We create complex deployments with the promise that the incremental savings will overtake the upfront costs when they rarely do (and the hidden complexity costs).

So it seems AI will just let us stretch further and make more accidentally complex systems.




The value of automation ("complex deployments") is not only incremental cost savings (ie because you don't need to do the work over and over), but also the reduction or outright elimination of human error, which especially in the case of security-sensitive activities like deploying software on the Internet can be orders of magnitude more costly than the time it takes to automate it.


That is a benefit of automation. But it does not appear to correlate with tool complexity, or the primary focus of commercial offerings.

E.g the most complex deployments are not the ones that are the least error prone or require the least amount of intervention.


What do you consider a complex deployment?


1. the degree to which it can prevent me from doing my job if it’s not working

2. The level of expertise and skill required to set it up and maintain




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