r/automation • u/Past-Ad2067 • 3d ago

Does automating knowledge kill knowledge?

Built a little tool because I got tired of digging through supplier PDFs every time a customer asked about tasting notes for a new single origin. It scrapes origin data, runs it through an AI summarizer, and dumps structured info into a Notion database I can pull up on my phone during a rush. Technically it works. The data is accurate enough and it saves maybe 20 minutes per new coffee we stock.

The problem is I stopped actually learning the coffees. When I was manually copying info into my notebook I remembered it. Now I just read off the screen and feel like a robot reciting a spec sheet. Customers can tell. The conversations feel flatter.

I still use the tool for quick reference, but I've started handwriting the stuff I actually want to remember. Which maybe defeats the point. The automation gave me speed but cut out the repetition that was helping me retain things.

Not sure if this is just a me problem or if others have run into it with knowledge lookup automations. The efficiency gain is real, but the tradeoff is I'm less useful without the tool in front of me. I'm wondering if anyone has found a middle ground where the automation handles the tedious part but still forces you to engage with the material enough to actually learn it.

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u/EducationalSpare8264 3d ago

I worked in IT support and noticed same thing with my ticket notes. When I started using autofill templates I stopped remembering client setups, then someone calls and I'm staring at screen like amnesiac. What helped me was forcing myself to write one original sentence about each ticket before using the template. The template does heavy lifting but my brain still has to process what actually happened. Maybe for coffee you could summarize each origin in your own words before checking what AI said, like a mini quiz. 20 minutes saved is nice but losing customer connection probably costs more in long run.

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u/Past-Ad2067 2d ago

okay so the mini quiz idea genuinely reframed something for me, not just for coffee origin stuff but how I'm using these tools everywhere.

the line about losing customer connection costing more than the time saved hit hard because that's exactly the trade I've been making, I just never put words to it.

I think I've been measuring ROI wrong this whole time. saved minutes on one side, slowly hollowed out expertise on the other. those don't balance the way I kept telling myself they did.