<story><title>Jobs Inside the API</title><url>https://putanumonit.com/2018/08/09/jobs-inside-the-api/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>pjc50</author><text>The lady with the iPad is in a rather tragic position as an output device for the system.&lt;p&gt;The &amp;quot;BAMF&amp;quot; booking agent however has a very important role in the API which isn&amp;#x27;t spelled out here: &lt;i&gt;authentication&lt;/i&gt;. He&amp;#x27;s basically the sudo interface, with the power to rewrite flights at will. And for whatever reason our narrator has the right kind of speaking-to-manager powers to use him as the sudo interface.&lt;p&gt;Every bulk customer service process has its &amp;quot;exceptions&amp;quot;, and this is clearly one of them. The role of humans is to understand the exception and turn it into pieces which the API will accept, either through the normal interface or the sudo interface.&lt;p&gt;See also &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.harrowell.org.uk&amp;#x2F;blog&amp;#x2F;category&amp;#x2F;callcentre&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.harrowell.org.uk&amp;#x2F;blog&amp;#x2F;category&amp;#x2F;callcentre&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt; - it&amp;#x27;s a short series, start at the bottom.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot; Asymmetric legibility characterises call centres, and it’s dreadful. Within, management tries to maintain a panopticon glare at the staff. Without, the user faces an unmapped territory, in which the paths are deliberately obscure, and the details the centre holds on you are kept secret. Call centres know a lot about you, but won’t say; their managers endlessly spy on the galley slaves; you’re not allowed to know how the system works.&lt;p&gt;...&lt;p&gt;Inappropriate automation and human&amp;#x2F;machine confusion bedevil call centres. If you could solve your problem by filling in a web form, you probably would have done. The fact you’re in the queue is evidence that your request is complicated, that something has gone wrong, or generally that human intervention is required.&amp;quot;</text></comment>
<story><title>Jobs Inside the API</title><url>https://putanumonit.com/2018/08/09/jobs-inside-the-api/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>toyg</author><text>The &amp;quot;above&amp;#x2F;below API&amp;quot; metaphore is a good update for the description of a process affecting most jobs ever since the industrial revolution happened. The API of yesterday was the production line, where you are the one designing&amp;#x2F;paying for&amp;#x2F;maintaining the line, or you do what the line needs you to do. We notice a difference simply because the new production line is computerized, so this dynamic now applies to &amp;quot;intellectual&amp;quot; jobs as well - but it&amp;#x27;s just another form of mechanization.&lt;p&gt;A lot of books from the &amp;#x27;60s and &amp;#x27;70s (and before) are worth re-reading, they&amp;#x27;ve exhamined this scenario extensively, back then.</text></comment>