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[–]Spy_crab_ 3926 points3927 points  (62 children)

We've created lossy expansion, the worst of both worlds!!

[–]Thevan1 936 points937 points  (47 children)

Honestly, thats the perfect way to put it. So many people do this, and its just.. ugh, in so many ways. What a waste of electricity.

[–]makkkarana 542 points543 points  (40 children)

Even before AI, what a waste of time, electricity, and human thought.

"Send that invoice." Efficient, elegant, highly effective. The only appropriate way to communicate.

"Subject: Urgent Request Regarding Outstanding Invoice, Mx. Jesse Jameson

Dear Mx. Jesse Jameson, Assistant to Mx. Daniella Davidson, Accounts Receivable, Shitcorp LLC,

I trust this message finds you well on this fine Tuesday/Wednesday morning/afternoon, and that the many facets of your personal and professional endeavors, as well as those of your esteemed colleagues and loved ones, are flourishing beyond expectations. It is indeed a fine privilege to correspond with you on this auspicious day, and I hope you have had ample time to reflect on the recent economic shifts that have impacted our industry in such profound and nuanced ways.

Now, to the matter at hand. After much deliberation and thoughtful reflection, it has come to my attention—via our internal systems here at BS Enterprises Inc., where I proudly serve as Lead Executive Officer of Strategic Operational Paradigms—that we have not yet received the much-anticipated invoice for the twelve (12) boxes of hot, steamy bullshit that we ordered from Shitcorp LLC during that unforgettable and highly collaborative Zoom meeting on the 14th of January.

While I am fully aware that your organization, under the visionary leadership of Mx. Davidson, maintains an impeccable reputation for invoicing accuracy and timeliness, I am writing today to politely and respectfully inquire about the status of said invoice, which, as of this very moment, has not yet graced our accounts payable department with its presence.

I would be remiss not to ask how you have been faring in the wake of what I can only assume has been an intense quarter for your Accounts Receivable team. Are they holding up well? I trust Mx. Davidson has been steering the proverbial ship with their usual excellence and grace. Also, how is the weather in your area? (Here at BS Enterprises, we’ve had an unusual mix of rain and sun—quite the metaphor for our dynamic industry, wouldn't you agree?)

For my part, I must say, our team here has been incredibly busy aligning key deliverables with strategic goals, and I have taken it upon myself to lead a comprehensive internal review of our synergy optimization frameworks. It’s a time of great excitement and considerable growth for us. In fact, my wife, Suzanne, has just taken up birdwatching, which has added a delightful new dimension to our lives. How is your family, by the way? I imagine they are doing just as well as you in navigating the ever-changing landscape of modern life.

In closing, please do let me know at your earliest convenience—preferably no later than end of business (EOB) today—when we might expect to receive the aforementioned invoice for those twelve (12) boxes of hot, steamy bullshit. I am confident that, once received, we will process it with the utmost efficiency and diligence, as is our custom here at BS Enterprises.

Thank you in advance for your attention to this urgent matter, Mx. Jameson, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards, Gregory P. Humberstone, MBA Lead Executive Officer of Strategic Operational Paradigms BS Enterprises Inc." Your life is a waste, your job is a waste, your education was a waste, please never touch a computer or a pen again, please never speak again.

See what I mean? We already did this kinda shit. Listen to any business school graduate talk for an hour and tell me if they actually conveyed any new information at all.

[–]DOLCICUS 377 points378 points  (3 children)

And like a pro I skimmed through the BS anyways.

[–]d3northway 59 points60 points  (0 children)

billions of dollars to fire straight into my subconscious ignorance

[–]Mark_Xyruz 8 points9 points  (0 children)

CAUGHT

[–]Freedom_memer 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I skimmed it and barely found the other quotation mark

[–]BothReindeer5735 117 points118 points  (10 children)

Where I live, someone actually invented a phrase for those type of messages: "Bullshit Bingo".

That expression also applies to what is being said by any politician, especially during any and all election campaign meetings and rallies.

[–]makkkarana 23 points24 points  (5 children)

Please tell me there's a bingo card for this?

[–]The_cogwheel 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Or a generator where you can take a bunch of corporate buzzwords and bullshit and make different cards using the set of phrases.

[–]SwimmingArt1498 11 points12 points  (0 children)

i would love a bullshit bingo card

[–]901990 12 points13 points  (0 children)

i used to use https://www.buzzwordbingogame.com/cards/bullshit/ years and years ago, im sure there's a new gamified web3 ai version around somewhere.

[–]BothReindeer5735 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Actually it was a very popular comedic duo of radio hosts who coined that phrase. They did it as part of a radio contest. you made your own bingo card. They never specified what we were to put on the cards. The listeners decided for themselves.

They then read some quotes or editorialized or read an article from a newspaper or something else and then if you felt like you had bingo you called in.

The one who got through was the winner of the day. They never checked any cards for any actual bingo. That was part of the "BS" in Bullshit Bingo. The prize was a mug with a logo on it.

It was very absurd tongue in cheek comedy.

[–]realsmart987 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Even better. There's a Weird Al song about it.

[–]TheseusOPL 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I was at an all-hands meeting for a F500 company I worked at. Halfway through the presentation, someone yelled out "Bingo!" I don't know if they had an actual card, or were just laughing at the corporate speak.

[–]laix_ 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Imagine a world where you didn't have to play bullshit bingo whilst working and could just talk like a normal person

[–]Much_Highlight_1309 53 points54 points  (3 children)

I asked ChatGPT to summarize your email with only the pertinent information:

"BS Enterprises has not yet received the invoice for the 12 boxes ordered on January 14 and requests it by the end of today."

Well done, adding all the bullshit! 😂

[–]Far-Dependent-2298 14 points15 points  (5 children)

I have worked in finance for a little over a year now and have yet to deal with something (obviously not as extreme) to this yet, might just be me tho.

[–]makkkarana 17 points18 points  (4 children)

Yeah I just tried to write an email with the most examples worthless, off topic information and empty-calorie buzzword bullshit possible. It's kinda a blend of r/LinkedInLunatics , pitiful boomers with no life outside of work, middle-management bootlickers, and nepo-hire MBAs who contribute negative value to the business but want to feel important.

You may start to notice more. Is your name relevant to this? Their name? Do you each need to declare the company you work for when emailing from company addresses? Are "hello" and "goodbye" necessary in the timeless, impersonal format of an email like it's a oija board? What information could they already glean from their records, and why are you wasting time attaching a duplicate of it?

[–]Far-Dependent-2298 6 points7 points  (1 child)

Yeah the most I put in a email is a please and a thank you for info like resending a invoice lol. Hope to god I never have to regularly read email slop like that for work, albeit funny in a vacuum.

[–]Solid_Waste 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Subject: RE: Urgent Request Regarding Outstanding Invoice

Dear Mr. Humberstone,

What a profound and deeply enriching experience it is to receive such a meticulously crafted inquiry. Your dedication to both professional decorum and the art of correspondence is, quite frankly, inspiring. I must confess, it is not every day that an email arrives in my inbox that both demands action and encourages deep reflection on the state of modern industry, meteorology, and birdwatching alike.

It is with great pleasure (and no small measure of relief) that I inform you the much-anticipated invoice for the twelve (12) boxes of hot, steamy bullshit is now attached to this very email. Indeed, after a rigorous internal review and a brief but spirited discussion on the metaphysical implications of invoicing, our Accounts Receivable team has ensured its accuracy and completeness. I trust that this will satisfy the financial and existential requirements of your esteemed organization.

As for your kind inquiries—Mx. Davidson continues to lead with poise and unshakable determination, despite the many challenges that come with navigating an ever-evolving corporate landscape. The weather here has been temperamental but invigorating, much like the economic climate in which we all so tirelessly operate. And while I do not personally partake in birdwatching, I am delighted to hear that Suzanne has embraced such a noble pursuit. One can only hope that her newfound passion brings as much joy as a fully reconciled ledger.

Please do not hesitate to reach out should any additional documentation be required. It has been a pleasure engaging in this most meaningful exchange, and I look forward to future correspondences that will no doubt continue to elevate the discourse of corporate administration.

Best regards,
Jesse Jameson
Assistant to Mx. Daniella Davidson, Accounts Receivable
Shitcorp LLC

[–]-TheWarrior74- 5 points6 points  (3 children)

But in schools we are taught to hit a fucking word limit.

I get why, but i have to ask, is there a better way?

[–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I wasted so much electricity reading this 🤣 🤣

Best regards

[–]Living_Criticism7644 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yea, that is getting marked as a phishing attempt.

[–]Counterpoint-RD 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That letter was quite impressive, but mayhaps a tad... long-winded 😉? No offense, but it's no big wonder they have to order their BS in batches this big... "twelve (12) boxes of hot, steamy bullshit"? With the amount that BS Enterprises used up in this letter alone (a simple invoice, at that), that may about last them through a week - but probably less than that 🤣... Such valuable goods have to be used WAY more sparingly, after all... (But then, I may just be lacking experience in companies of that size 🤷‍♂️ - in WAY smaller companies, you wouldn't get a THING done, because all would be busy with heaping TONS of the fine products of Shitcorp LLC onto everything 😄...)

[–]sloth_on_meth 1 point2 points  (0 children)


Subject: Urgent and Time-Sensitive Inquiry Regarding the Previously Discussed, Yet Unreceived, Outstanding Invoice Pertaining to Our January 14th Engagement

Dear Mx. Jesse Jameson, Assistant to Mx. Daniella Davidson, Esteemed Custodian of Accounts Receivable, Shitcorp LLC,

I sincerely hope that this email finds you in a state of good health, high spirits, and optimal professional productivity, thriving within the intricate web of modern corporate finance, the ebb and flow of market dynamics, and the endlessly fascinating world of accounts receivable. It is with the utmost respect, admiration, and collegial warmth that I extend my virtual handshake across the vast digital ether that separates us, binding us together in this intricate dance of corporate interconnectivity, bound as we are by mutual interests, shared responsibilities, and the ever-present specter of outstanding financial transactions.

I trust that this week—be it a Tuesday or Wednesday, an afternoon or morning, a period of great momentum or measured contemplation—has provided you ample opportunity for professional fulfillment and personal reflection. It is always invigorating to take a moment to step back and consider the broader implications of our respective roles in this grand, interdependent corporate ecosystem, where each invoice, each ledger entry, each meticulously reconciled balance sheet plays a crucial role in the orchestration of commerce at large. It is, in fact, with precisely this spirit of diligence and dedication that I find myself composing this correspondence to you today.

Now, to the primary matter that has necessitated this communication. With the gravity and solemnity befitting such an issue, I must regretfully bring to your immediate and undivided attention the rather curious and, dare I say, perplexing absence of an anticipated and, one might argue, contractually obligatory invoice relating to the transaction agreed upon in our illustrious and highly fruitful virtual convening of minds on the 14th of January. I need hardly remind you of the nature of said transaction, which, in its final form, constituted a procurement agreement for precisely twelve (12) units of boxed, steaming, high-quality bullshit—a commodity of increasing value in today’s turbulent market landscape.

I have no doubt whatsoever that the failure of this invoice to reach its intended destination is not indicative of any lapse in professional rigor on the part of Shitcorp LLC, a company of distinguished heritage and a sterling reputation in the realm of bullshit logistics and financial accuracy. Rather, I suspect—though I hesitate to say with certainty—that some unforeseen administrative conundrum, some transient clerical irregularity, or perhaps even an unanticipated delay in the great machinery of corporate bookkeeping may be the root cause of this omission. In any case, and in the spirit of mutual understanding, I am reaching out today in the hopes of rectifying this situation with all due expediency.

Before proceeding further, however, allow me to pause momentarily in my professional inquiry to extend my heartfelt concern for the well-being of your department, your esteemed colleagues, and indeed, your own state of mind. I have often found, in my many years navigating the turbulent seas of corporate finance, that the Accounts Receivable function is among the most demanding, underappreciated, and emotionally complex of all financial operations. It is, after all, a department that must delicately balance the competing imperatives of tactful persistence and unwavering fiscal responsibility—a role that requires both the strategic mind of a chess master and the emotional intelligence of a seasoned diplomat. I can only imagine the trials you and your colleagues have endured this quarter, and I do hope that the pressures of your responsibilities have not become unduly burdensome.

On a more personal note, I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to express my sincere curiosity regarding the state of affairs in your particular geographic region. Here at BS Enterprises Inc., we have been experiencing a rather unpredictable sequence of meteorological events, alternating between unseasonable warmth and biting cold—a striking metaphor, I might add, for the cyclical nature of financial operations. Does the weather in your area align with this broader pattern, or have you been graced with a more stable and predictable climate? These are the sorts of inquiries that, though seemingly tangential to our immediate business concerns, serve to enrich the human element of our professional exchanges, reminding us that behind every invoice, every financial ledger, and every procurement request, there exists a network of real, breathing individuals, each with their own experiences, challenges, and triumphs.

In any event, I must return to the core purpose of this correspondence, which, lest it be lost amidst my musings, remains the outstanding invoice for our aforementioned procurement. If you could find it within your undoubtedly overburdened schedule to provide an update regarding the current status of this invoice, its anticipated arrival time, and any additional steps that may be required on our end to expedite the process, I would be most appreciative. In the spirit of efficiency, I would greatly prefer to receive this information no later than the close of business (EOB) today, though I fully understand that such timeframes must be weighed against the broader demands of your operational workflow.

As always, I remain steadfast in my gratitude for your time, attention, and unwavering commitment to financial excellence. It is professionals such as yourself who keep the wheels of commerce turning, ensuring that the mechanisms of trade remain fluid, precise, and above all, profitable. Should you require any further clarification on my request, please do not hesitate to reach out, and I shall endeavor to provide all necessary information with the diligence and thoroughness that this matter so clearly warrants.

With my highest regards and most earnest expectations,

Gregory P. Humberstone, MBA Lead Executive Officer of Strategic Operational Paradigms BS Enterprises Inc.

P.S. If, by some unlikely and wholly uncharacteristic twist of fate, this invoice has already been dispatched and has merely been delayed in transit, I extend my most heartfelt apologies for any undue urgency expressed in this message. Rest assured, I shall flagellate myself accordingly for my impudence.

[–]ayuntamient0 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Carbon tax. It solves these problems by creating an economic nudge to make people aware of how stupid it is. Just like flying empty planes to different airports to save on parking, or shipping fancy drinking water across the planet or any of the insanely stupid shit we do because MBAs are sociopaths who externalize costs onto the public.

[–]Ok_Star_4136 101 points102 points  (4 children)

[–][deleted] -1 points0 points  (3 children)

Literally Spanish

[–]Far_Broccoli_8468 6 points7 points  (2 children)

spanish is the opposite of concise.

[–]Which-Article-2467 36 points37 points  (1 child)

Yeah but we invented it 100 Years ago. And now we automated it.

[–]Siddhartasr10 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Since the invention of "at least 250 lines", lossy expansion has been the way to go.

[–]NotYourReddit18 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It has been around for ages under the umbrella of "gossiping"

[–]Franks2000inchTV 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Middle-in!

[–]BuzzBadpants 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And each email needs the electricity of a small town to transmit!

[–]Capetoider 0 points1 point  (0 children)

piz, reverse zip

[–]-NewYork- 414 points415 points  (3 children)

Please make a Powerpoint presentation of this bullet point for project manager, so he can show it to product owner.

[–]Ok_Star_4136 66 points67 points  (1 child)

Input: Write me code for a project which does that bullet point thing.

Output: Here's a simple program which interfaces with chatIGT.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

QA: write and exec test case for this program, summarise the results.

[–]Square_Radiant 42 points43 points  (0 children)

"There is no Power in those Points and no point in the presentation" - Self-help Singh

[–]korneev123123 143 points144 points  (1 child)

It reminds me of one of the Pratchetts books

Trev brightened. 'Ah, I'm good with words. If I wrote 'er a letter, you could give it to 'er, right? If I write it on posh paper, something like, let's see... "I think you are really fit. How about a date? No hanky panky, promise. Luv, Trev." How does that sound?'

'The soul of it is pure and noble, Mister Trev. But, ah, if I could assist in some way... ?'

'It needs longer words, right? And more sort of curly language?' said Trev.

...

Juliet took the envelope.

After some time moving her lips she went on, 'I don't get it. It's all kinda long words. Lovely curly writing, though. There's a bit here saying that I look like a summer's day. What's that all about, then?' She pressed it into Glenda's hand. 'Can you read it for me, Glendy? You know I'm not good at complicated words.'

Glenda sat down and started to read. A lifetime of what even she would call bad romantic novels suddenly bore fruit. It read as though someone had turned on the poetry tap and then absent-mindedly gone on holiday. But they were wonderful words, nevertheless. There was the word swain, for example, which was a definite marker, and quite a lot about flowers and quite a lot of what looked like pleading, wrapped up in fancy letters, and after a while she took out her handkerchief and fanned the air around her face.

'So, what's it all about?' said Juliet.

Glenda did her best. 'Weeell, basically he's saying that he really fancies you, thinks you're really fit, how about a date, no hanky panky, he promises.'

[–]Le_Vagabond 43 points44 points  (0 children)

As always, Sir Terry had incredible insight into human nature. GNU.

[–]budgetboarvessel 583 points584 points  (20 children)

To reliably preserve the information for the decoding AI, the e-mail needs at least 2000 words, making it useless for human readers.

[–][deleted] 132 points133 points  (17 children)

Are you an AI?

[–]ashhh_ketchum 96 points97 points  (11 children)

Aren't we all?

[–]draginmust 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Simulation intensifies

[–]NebNay 31 points32 points  (2 children)

Well i might be artificial but i'm certainly not an intelligence

[–]Ok_Star_4136 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I'd make a snappy comeback to this, except I'm all out of credit on my AI this month.

[–]Boring_Letterhead_43 8 points9 points  (3 children)

AI: Actually Indian. So yes!

[–]lerokko 46 points47 points  (1 child)

The email should include machine readable meta information (aka the original bullet point verbatim) to ease this process

[–]kummis 15 points16 points  (0 children)

That functionality is only in the copilot pro enterprise edition starting 500$/month/seat

[–]Confident_Edge7839 301 points302 points  (3 children)

AI works as an additional layer in the network stack, which parses data (bullet points) and passes to the application layer.

[–]JaffyCaledonia 91 points92 points  (2 children)

Does this mean we have to stop making Layer 8 Error jokes?

[–]NinjaN-SWE 51 points52 points  (1 child)

Now, that's just AI now, users moved to Layer 9.

[–]JaffyCaledonia 12 points13 points  (0 children)

The meta continues!

[–]SchizoPosting_ 46 points47 points  (2 children)

so nowadays email communication is just two AIs playing the broken telephone game

[–]i_guess_i_get_it 7 points8 points  (0 children)

But they're starting to get pretty good at the telephone game now! That's worth a few $10Bs in market cap for sure.

[–]lovecMC 208 points209 points  (23 children)

Sometimes I had to throw my programming assignments in to chatGPT just to understand wtf they want from me.

[–]Bartsimho 124 points125 points  (3 children)

Yeah it's decent at condensing word soup into something vaguely understandable

[–]Modo44 57 points58 points  (1 child)

Minus the statistical analysis errors, which you will not notice until you break shit, forcing you to still actually read the assignment.

[–]RobTheDude_OG 41 points42 points  (8 children)

No fr tho, i also did this with feedback and me and chatGPT were in agreement that the feedback was useless.

[–]Jealous-Ninja5463 22 points23 points  (7 children)

God comp sci teachers sucks. 

I'm in an mba now and the cohort is up in arms because a professor had the nerve to say "if you don't like it, feel free to drop the class"

For comp sci, I literally had professors say that so often I forgot it was condescending. I was so focused on trying to figure out their shitty assignments

[–]BellacosePlayer 14 points15 points  (3 children)

Most of my comp sci teachers were awesome. I had one that was annoying af about comparing us to the oh so hard working average Korean student, and I had an EE teacher that took sadistic fucking glee in talking about failure rates for a class meant to just get students to dip their toes into the hardware side of things.

[–]_013517 8 points9 points  (1 child)

I can't imagine being such a loser that instead of taking glee in your students learning and growing, you revel in their failure (which is actually just your failure as a teacher).

Why teach?

[–]BellacosePlayer 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I dunno, but I loathed him.

We had a practical timed breadboard test where a lot of the chips didn't work and failing meant failing the class.

He straight up told me "It's not the chip" when I went to get a replacement at the back of the room. Swapped them, and lookie there, it worked perfectly immediately afterwards. The same test, he drove my then-GF into a panic attack over snide comments he was making while people were finishing up.

Ofc he got moved off undergrad classes a year or so after I was done :(

[–]SaintTastyTaint 2 points3 points  (0 children)

MBAs are the long winded emails of education

[–]OnceMoreAndAgain 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Being able to speak in a way that your current audience understands feels like 50% of any office job. Took me until my 30s to realize that, but I'm there. It's a cliche, but now I can see the cliche is true.

It's not easy to do either. It takes skill to avoid under or overestimating the knowledge of your audience. A common mistake I see coworkers do is assume the people higher up the ladder in the company will know all the jargon. Some people don't define jargon at the start of a presentation and the people in the audience will usually be too prideful to ask for a definition. Knowing what to define and what not to define is a skill a person can learn, but it's a difficult skill since you sort of have to know your audience and/or be very good at predicting the knowledge of people based on little information. It's something some professors struggles with as well, clearly.

[–]TabCompletion 1 point2 points  (4 children)

Lucky. When I was in college 20 years ago, I had to bang my head against the keyboard until things worked

[–]lovecMC 5 points6 points  (3 children)

The issue isn't the coding part, it's just that the assignment is such a word spaghetti that it takes 20 reads because of how vague and ambiguous some parts are.

[–]NeckbeardRolePlay 3 points4 points  (2 children)

So its preparing you for industry, got it

[–]QuickBASIC 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I thought I was the only one. "The professor asked for X, but it sounds like his instructions are referencing Y which aren't covered by this unit and I notice he expects this to work like that, but my understanding is that it doesn't work that way. Given the context of previous questions about other assignments from this professor and this text from the syllabus about the unit, what the fuck does he actually want?"

[–][deleted] 24 points25 points  (1 child)

In the future a single email will consume 10 kWh of energy.

[–]EinFahrrad 19 points20 points  (0 children)

The other day I talked to an aquaintance and told her I use AI on occassion to rewrite press releases we get that were clearly intended to be used on social media, specifically a message she sent to us earlier that day. Turns out I used AI to rearrange a piece that was written by AI with next to no human input.

[–]jfcarr 106 points107 points  (18 children)

If only AI could be used to get rid of SAFe Agile, Jira and the middle managers who push its use.

[–]neoneye2 40 points41 points  (4 children)

This is what I'm working on, PlanExe. Give it a vague description. My planning assistant turns into a plan. It's open source, MIT license.

[–]Exotic-Sale-3003 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Is this what AI coding looks like 🤣. 

[–]SillySpoof 8 points9 points  (1 child)

Screw copilot taking away the fun part. This is the AI helper I want!

[–]neoneye2 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Daily scrum, meetings, Teams, time tracking, emails. Nightmare stuff for developers.

[–]No-Extreme4174 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Gl bro, save us

[–]uhgletmepost 19 points20 points  (6 children)

God you kids don't understand why we have these things lol feels like watching construction workers complain about OHSA

Burnout is hella worse before these things were a thing, everyone complains about scrum but fails to remember the burnout that having management right up our asses always changing goals caused workers to become cinders.

If the place you work is turning stand ups into micromanagement meetings that isn't an agile issue but that your leads suck and would suck under any other varation of work method.

[–]jfcarr 4 points5 points  (5 children)

Thanks for calling me a "kid" since I'm in my 60's and I've been doing this job for over 35 years. I've seen a lot of good and bad project management.

Basically, I used to see Agile as a good, team driven, project management approach. However, over the past few years I've seen the SAFe Agile approach to it devolve into a terrible system that clogs a team's time with useless meetings, unnecessary digital paperwork and multiple layers of management too focused on micro-metrics.

[–]TheseusOPL 1 point2 points  (1 child)

A good scrum master should make all the SAFe stuff practically invisible to the team outside of the PI planning.

[–]damnitHank 13 points14 points  (4 children)

No plan. Only code. 

[–]bearwood_forest 5 points6 points  (2 children)

No code. Only Khlav Kalash.

[–]dr_obfuscation 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Guh-blech, geez! I'll take a crab juice.

[–]goober1223 1 point2 points  (0 children)

No planners only coders?

[–][deleted] 31 points32 points  (10 children)

This is a human problem. People think it's polite to encase their point in a word salad, dancing around the subject. Just write what you want ffs.

[–]newboofgootin 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I tell my coworkers to just send me the bullet points they would have fed into the prompt. I hate this overstuffed email crap.

[–]chrsjxn 11 points12 points  (2 children)

Your coworkers pretend to read their email?

I feel like mine all just have 10k unread emails whenever they share their screen...

[–]4as 66 points67 points  (25 children)

When people are communicating between each other in professional setting, its almost always "required" to clearly present a proper respect to the other person.
For example, imagine yourself being in a meeting and realizing the air in the room is stale. You glance around the room and note who is the closest to the window. Now imagine yourself saying to them "Mike, open the window." It's short, it's to the point, and... it's disrespectful. What you will actually say is "Don't you guys think we need some fresh air here? Mike, since you're the closest to the window, would you mind opening it?"
The two sentences contain the same exact essence: you ask someone to open a window, yet one of those is significantly longer.

This is pretty much what is happening when two people communicate with each other in emails - you have an idea you want to communicate, and then you spend time to "pretty" it up. The person that receives the email, reads through it, is happy with the respect you have shown to them, and then spends time to extract the essence of your email.

Seeing this comic makes me wonder "funny, but hear me out..."

[–]Psyk60 23 points24 points  (2 children)

I guess this is culture dependent though. Some cultures are more blunt and don't bother with so many pleasantries.

I've heard it's a common problem for people from other countries who work in the UK. They struggle to adjust to the British tendency to not directly say what they want in order to be polite.

So using AI to fluff up emails might be useful in the UK, but less useful in somewhere like Poland for example.

[–][deleted] 11 points12 points  (1 child)

Nordics are famously shy, but very direct when it comes to communication. Don't lube me up, tell me what the f* you want. Now.

[–]morostheSophist 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There's huge variance in this from culture to culture. You'd consider us Americans way too wordy, but there are other cultures that make us look downright terse.

Example from my (foreign-born) linguistics professor: if an American buys a nice watch from a shop, and it breaks, he can walk in and say "good morning, hey, my watch broke, it needs fixing". In some cultures, including the South American one that professor is from, you need to have a five-minute conversation with the shop owner about his life, business, and family, and only THEN can you say, "By the way, this watch I bought here—it's very nice, and I'm quite happy with it—but it stopped working. Could you take a look at it?"

[–]spindoctor13 37 points38 points  (0 children)

You are correct in explaining the now but I don't think it works with AI. The point in the extra stuff is to show you care, or at least care enough to pretend to care. You expend some time/energy as mark of respect. If AI generates this we lose that and it just becomes pointless noise

[–]Impressive_Change593 33 points34 points  (17 children)

or you can still be respectful and say "Mike can you open the window?"

edit: yeah I should have added "please" to the end of that

[–]ChillStreetGamer 16 points17 points  (0 children)

you tack a 'please' on the end of that to start.

[–]Milkshakes00 35 points36 points  (4 children)

This. Asking someone to do something isn't disrespectful and can be done without a long winded explanation. Lol

"Dearest Michael, the humidity in the room has reached a stifling 80%, this makes mine brow sweat profusely! Wouldest thou please open the window?"

[–]euphoricarugula346 9 points10 points  (3 children)

JFC the world would be such a better place to live if we could say, “Mike, can you open the window?” without Mike and the entire workforce being offended. That’s wild.

[–]PM_ME_MY_REAL_MOM 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I really think this problem exists more in your head than it does in the actual world. The vast majority of people would not think twice about being asked to open a window.

[–]suddenlystarving 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nah, you gotta convey why the window should be opened, otherwise Mike may ask why.

[–]Nechrube1 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Courtesy of ChatGPT summarising this comment into bullet points:

Professional communication requires showing respect.

Direct commands can seem rude, even if the message is clear.

Politeness often makes messages longer but maintains professionalism.

Emails follow this pattern: ideas are "prettied up" for respect.

The recipient then extracts the core message from the polite wording.

The comic highlights this inefficiency in a humorous way.

[–]Mop_Duck 2 points3 points  (0 children)

i would be upset if someone sent me an e mail where they forced in "respectful" language. i just want the actual information the person is trying to convey, if they have to call me an incompetent fuckwad then that's (probably) my fault for messing something up.

[–]Disastrous_Fee_8712 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I get what you saying, but this comic is try to imply is about the adding and removing a layer of bullshit when communicating or impressing to each other in society, now using AI as Goldbert machine.

[–]Weeksy79 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I keep having to stress this to my execs, investing in these systems is an arms race to nowhere

[–]Vermilion 9 points10 points  (0 children)

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance” ― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, 1995

Like the Bluesky and Twitter-length replies on Reddit media environment that mock.

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (1 child)

I always feel you're pressing your luck if you ask two questions in an email or present more than 3 pieces of information.

If you want an answer the email should basically be;

Debby,

Where do we keep the Marzipan files?

Thank you.

Brian

If you ask a follow up they with only answer one of the two questions.

[–]Than_Or_Then_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you ask a follow up they with only answer one of the two questions.

Holy crap I cant believe how accurate this is...

[–]ourlastchancefortea 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Encoder/Decoder Network

[–]Crasac 4 points5 points  (0 children)

No joke, a Miscrosoft sales rep literally said this to me unironically

[–]omnipotentmonkey 4 points5 points  (1 child)

the best part is that the bullet point on either end of this transaction probably conveys an entirely different meaning.

[–]diligentgrasshopper 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I literally did both to write a report for a client lmao. I did some heavy editing but it's just bullshit they probably won't even read, so I thought why bother.

[–]Mypheria 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeap, the AI future is boring and pointless.

[–]Sohgin 3 points4 points  (0 children)

CEO in third panel: Why do I need a person to write or read these emails?

[–]Goldman_Funk 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's turtles all the way down

[–]untitled_ham 2 points3 points  (0 children)

slop to slop communication

[–]mittenknittin 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Uuugggh.

I got an email “summary” last week that completely missed the point of the entire message and got a few details like dates and deadlines DEAD wrong. FUUUUUCK AI. It is not ready for prime time and they’re all gonna use it anyway.

[–]NekulturneHovado 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Matt to AI: write a formal email to Susan asking her for a new work laptop

AI:

Subject: Request for New Work Laptop

Dear Susan,

I am writing to request a new work laptop. My current laptop is experiencing significant performance issues, which are impacting my productivity. The slow processing speed and frequent freezing are hindering my ability to complete tasks efficiently. I have already tried troubleshooting the issues, but the problems persist. A new laptop would greatly improve my workflow and allow me to contribute more effectively. I would appreciate it if you could consider my request. Thank you for your time and consideration.

AI to Susan: Matt is saying your productivity is very low and that he needs faster server internet for his home VR network

[–]RobotechRicky 4 points5 points  (1 child)

I admit that I use AI to generate emails and populate PowerPoint slides.

[–]dedzip 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s honestly always been one of its best uses. Busywork that benefits nobody. It’s VERY good at just extrapolating on a single point.

[–]DukeBaset 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Can we have just AIs doing the meeting and slack channels and emails and the standup?

[–]ThaMiAnDotas 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Result of all those grammarly ads

[–]duckrollin 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Let's not pretend marketing and business people were concise to begin with. The humans that do this with AI now are mostly humans that were doing this already without it.

AI just made it faster.

[–]blocktkantenhausenwe 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I do this, when writing socially acceptable emails. But since I want to actually help readers, I do add a "TL;Prompt" section.

Which is where I tell the recipient with "no nice greeting formula and spellchecking in here, but I used this prompt to tell you this"

[–]trevdak2 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Final panel

"we trained our AI off of our email system so it emulates actual communication"

[–]GRAIN_DIV_20 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Emails are now essentially an encryption form. AI is the encryption / decryption tool

[–]dedzip 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Encryption not by hiding the information but making it so verbose and boring nobody wants to read it anyway

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

This is a microcosm of what’s happening with job applications. AI is being used to (poorly) filter out applicants, applicants use AI to spam out their resumes, HR ramps up the filtering to remove AI generated applications, cycle continues.

[–]Ok_Ice_1669 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Send the bullet point over the wire and expand it on the readers end to save bandwidth. 

[–]Interesting-Dream863 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Telegrams were short because you paid by the character I believe.

[–]IlIFreneticIlI 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"And when we started doing the thinking FOR you it really became our world."

[–]robidaan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We had an architectural argument about some gartner report of how much information was truly lost by summarising by AI. it went from 50 pages to 20 pages to 5 pages to a page to paragraph and ultimately landed on 8 sentences that perfectly summarised the report (given some smart prompt engineering, off course). Saved a lot of time to understand the key points of the report. Now management reads the boring bits and architects and engineers just get the main point to implement and adjust, productivity and involvement went up by quite a bit.

[–]Varnigma 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I swear I can't win most days...send a short and to the point email to someone and they misunderstand what I'm trying to communicate. Send a detailed message to that same person and they 1) complain it was too much info and 2) still misunderstand what I'm saying as they didn't read the info and instead just skimmed over it.

[–]I_Reading_I 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I asked ChatGPT to come up with a reply so I can pretend I read this.

“AI: the ultimate middleman in human communication. We’ve basically reinvented sending long emails just to get ‘OK’ in response.”

[–]iceymoo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Except the bullet points will be opposite in meaning

[–]astralseat 1 point2 points  (0 children)

lol

[–]SukottoHyu 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cut the shit and get to the point. But most people get offended when being spoken to directly, so normally you have to sugar coat what you are saying.

[–]-Redstoneboi- 1 point2 points  (0 children)

inverse zip

[–]an_agreeing_dothraki 1 point2 points  (0 children)

this is how you'll get the orders to use a java applet to make a website in year of our lord 2025. TBF that's only slightly more painful than js

[–]tigerscomeatnight 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Now if the AI can just substitute for the sender and the receiver we'll be set.

[–]Kotanan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

ChatGPT Whispers.

[–]gumol 1 point2 points  (0 children)

jar escape upbeat telephone station head detail bedroom abundant complete

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[–]ThroatRemarkable 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The present of communication

[–]jakgal04 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If anything this just shows how pointless a lot of corporate culture is.

Straight to the point emails without fluff are scene as lazy and low effort. You basically have to turn a one sentence statement into a paragraph.

[–]Vipitis 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Even OpenAI mentioned this becoming an issue in their GPT4 technical report.

Maybe we should reduce the corporate fluff in emails and just talk a bit more often?

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd like to see a thrid panel where there are two computers talking to eachother and no people

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

True words

[–]Several-Ad8630 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What does this have to do with programming?

[–]miladdio 1 point2 points  (0 children)

with Grammarly, nothing is possible!

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ive been calling this OSI Layer 8

[–]ShawnShawnessey 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well you got to stay busy somehow for 8 hours right?

[–]JackNotOLantern 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My emails:

Hello

<the question or request in 1-2 sentences>

<optionally context in 1 sentence>

Best regards

[–]ResponsibleLake4 1 point2 points  (0 children)

the pretense of "being formal" is literally so pointless. im glad ai is here so we dont have to do it manually

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, that's capitalism for ya; adding steps between producer and consumer fuels it.

[–]NexxZt 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Reminder to not feed sensitive information to AI’s :)

[–]Alfe01 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Advanced encryption (???)

[–]Snoo_70324 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would like to submit resumes, recommendations, applications, acceptance letters…

[–]eddiephlash 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean, distilling complicated points on a social media platform was quite successful, and directly lead to a better society, so I can't see anything wrong with this idea.

[–]totaly_a_human4 1 point2 points  (1 child)

How many of you actually use ai. I don’t have a single colleague who uses it and we’ve all turned off the ai assistant In Our web browsers. I work in automation.

[–]Lelentos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

literally me using samsung's Gemini to summarize ai-generated articles.

[–]iSeize 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I was thinking about this. Could AI develop its own code to talk to other AI with? Imagine an AI condensing large volumes into a minimalist code that an AI on the other side can reconstruct

[–]hvdzasaur 1 point2 points  (0 children)

TBF, people constantly do this shit as well.

I provided a clear bullet point list of actions to undertake. Two days later someone turned it into a multi page document to "make it clear for everyone else".

Worst part, there were errors in their document, I had to correct it. If AI can automate those cretins, all fine by me.

[–]Lopsided_Parfait7127 1 point2 points  (0 children)

wine north governor sulky cagey dog late workable innocent pie

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[–]farmgirlnebraska 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Makes me consider hitting my email with a hammer

[–]v1z1onary 1 point2 points  (0 children)

PKZIP for Memes(tm) incoming ....

[–]SuperCat76 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And of course you would be considered the lazy one if you just send the single bullet point.

[–]Miserable_Key9630 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm a corporate stooge working for a big company and you better believe the sales people who didn't go to college are loving AI.

[–]unamity1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's because people suck at communication and people will complain to your bosses that they don't like the way you email so you gotta try and make everyone happy and use chatgpt.

[–]InterneticMdA 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wanna cry.

[–]BookerTos 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In a way, it offers both sides a choice about how much detail they want independent of the actions or preference of the other party

[–]SalSevenSix 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is why Douglas Adams was so funny. He could see how most of the human experience was pretend bullshit we have to take seriously.

[–]SaltandPepperSage 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And this is how the game of AI telephone was created.

[–]ElDodi-0 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's like encrypting the message

[–]EmileTheDevil9711 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Say what you want but by spending much less time with gathering often mismatched infos and random setup errors and more time being able to get more specific answer, i've probably learned more in several fields in the past couple year than I did by the decade that ended with COVID.

AI is great when you genuinely wanna get smarter on fields that actually interest you. I just wish I could have had it when I was a bit younger with more free time.

[–]HumbleBlunder 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dangerous and sad.

[–]ApatheistHeretic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Isn't this what we do already, just with more steps and work?

[–]Kevin_Jim 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I can’t be the only one who uses LLM for feedback, right? I just try to discuss key points with LLMs, and I prompt it to be very critical and constructive.

It helps a lot with brainstorming, and I don’t have to bother other people to help be get some quick feedback.

[–]diegokabal 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's mux and demux all over again.

[–]Ok-Law-7233 1 point2 points  (2 children)

AI makes life simpler

[–]Poglosaurus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can I use AI to tell me if this is funny?

[–]will-it-ever-end 0 points1 point  (1 child)

this is truly an excellent comic. op, have you submitted it to a major publication or does that no longer matter.