The Future of Productivity: Demographic Trends and Labor Shortage

“Kedrosky and Norlin believe demographic trends will ultimately lead to a drastic decline in overall productivity as industries like retail, manufacturing, and health care struggle to fill open positions. There’s some indication that those trends are, in fact, here to stay. The overall labor force participation rate is still about a percentage point lower than it was in February 2020. In a workforce the size of the U.S.’s that can equal several million workers."—A.I. came at ‘perfect time’ to save the economy, VC says | Fortune
Featured writing
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This article reveals a fundamental flaw in how customer support tools are designed—organizing by interaction type instead of by customer—and explains why this fragmentation wastes time and obscures the full picture you need to help users effectively.
Infrastructure shapes thought
The tools you build determine what kinds of thinking become possible. On infrastructure, friction, and building deliberately for thought rather than just throughput.
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Books
The Work of Being (in progress)
A book on AI, judgment, and staying human at work.
The Practice of Work (in progress)
Practical essays on how work actually gets done.
Recent writing
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Every time a new tool emerges for making or manipulating symbols, we panic. The pattern is so consistent it's almost embarrassing. Here's what happened each time.
Dev reflection - February 03, 2026
I've been thinking about constraints today. Not the kind that block you—the kind that clarify. There's a difference, and most people miss it.
When execution becomes cheap, ideas become expensive
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Notes and related thinking
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Stop Making All the Decisions
Overcome decision fatigue by empowering others to share the load and elevate your standards for better outcomes. Discover how today!
AI Offers Relief from Email Overload
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