Good Culture Is the Biggest Productivity Hack, Not AI
Good Culture Is the Biggest Productivity Hack, Not AI
优秀的文化才是最大的生产力黑客，而非人工智能
AI definitely helps with productivity, but only when you have the right culture in place first! 人工智能确实有助于提高生产力，但前提是你必须先建立起正确的文化！
Intro
引言
This is something that has been on my mind for quite a while now. It seems like everything these days revolves around “AI”, “AI tools”, “AI productivity”. “You need to use this AI tool”, “You need to be using this AI workflow”, “Your engineers should be 2x, 5x, or even 10x more productive with AI”. And I get it. AI is changing how we build software, and I use AI tools myself every day as well. 这件事在我脑海中盘旋已久。如今似乎一切都围绕着“人工智能”、“AI 工具”和“AI 生产力”展开。“你需要使用这个 AI 工具”、“你需要使用这个 AI 工作流”、“你的工程师应该通过 AI 提高 2 倍、5 倍甚至 10 倍的生产力”。我明白这一点。人工智能正在改变我们构建软件的方式，我自己每天也在使用 AI 工具。
But we’re focusing too much on AI tools alone and not enough on the environment in which the tools are being used. Because there’s something a LOT more important than AI tools, and that’s a great culture. 但我们过于关注 AI 工具本身，而忽略了使用这些工具的环境。因为有一件事比 AI 工具重要得多，那就是优秀的文化。
Throughout my 13+ year career in the engineering industry, I’ve seen both the negative effects of bad culture and the positive effects of a good one. I even felt it myself as an engineer and an engineering manager, when departments spent whole days blaming each other for problems. So, I am a big believer that everything starts with a good culture, and I’ll tell you all about it in this article. 在我 13 年多的工程行业生涯中，我既见证过糟糕文化带来的负面影响，也见证过优秀文化带来的积极作用。作为一名工程师和工程经理，我甚至亲身感受过部门之间整天互相推诿责任的情况。因此，我坚信一切都始于优秀的文化，我将在本文中详细阐述这一点。
“This is very easy to build now that we have AI, and we don’t need as many people”
“既然有了 AI，这东西很容易构建，我们不需要那么多人了”
This is a sentence that breaks a good culture and makes people believe that their job is not important. Especially if it comes from an executive, e.g., a CEO, CPO, or even worse, a CTO. The problem with it is that it totally decreases psychological safety, and everyone starts wondering whether they’ll still be needed or not. 这句话会破坏良好的文化，让员工认为自己的工作不再重要。如果这句话出自高管之口（例如 CEO、CPO，甚至更糟糕的 CTO），情况会更严重。它的问题在于它彻底降低了心理安全感，每个人都开始怀疑自己是否还会被需要。
But here is an important thing that many people forget: There is no better productivity hack than a great culture. No AI tools will provide bigger productivity gains. 但有一件重要的事情许多人都忘记了：没有比优秀的文化更好的生产力黑客了。任何 AI 工具都无法提供比这更大的生产力提升。
Without good culture, everything else won’t work well
没有优秀的文化，其他一切都无法良好运作
Many executives believe that AI will just magically increase the productivity of everyone. But the reason that often doesn’t work is Conway’s law. It states: Organizations which design systems (in the broad sense used here) are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations. 许多高管认为 AI 会神奇地提高每个人的生产力。但它往往无效的原因在于康威定律（Conway’s Law）。该定律指出：设计系统的组织（此处指广义上的系统），其产生的设计等同于这些组织内部的沟通结构。
If the culture is bad, the end product will be bad as well, because people just don’t work together well and they don’t communicate properly. But if the culture is good, then often the end product will be good as well. So, you should always think about good culture as a prerequisite for everything else. 如果文化糟糕，最终产品也会很糟糕，因为人们无法良好协作，沟通也不顺畅。但如果文化优秀，最终产品往往也会很出色。因此，你应该始终将优秀的文化视为其他一切的前提。
“Other companies are 10x more productive by using this AI tool”
“其他公司通过使用这个 AI 工具，生产力提高了 10 倍”
Now, here comes the problem that many people fall into, especially CEOs and other executives. They see either a competitor or some other company reporting 10x higher productivity using a certain AI tool. They start to panic, they start feeling FOMO (fear of missing out), and they start blaming people around them: “Why don’t we have that same amount of productivity as well?” 现在，许多人（尤其是 CEO 和其他高管）陷入了一个误区。他们看到竞争对手或其他公司报告称使用某种 AI 工具后生产力提高了 10 倍。他们开始恐慌，产生错失恐惧症（FOMO），并开始责怪身边的人：“为什么我们的生产力没有达到同样的水平？”
What many CEOs don’t realize is that a lot of the “reporting” of AI increasing productivity by 10x is more or less selling a certain AI product, or a certain partnership where they are promoting the other product. My recommendation: Always take a look at what the incentives are behind people saying something, that says a lot about whether it’s true or not. 许多 CEO 没有意识到，很多关于“AI 提高 10 倍生产力”的报道，多多少少是在推销某种 AI 产品，或者是为了某种合作关系而进行的宣传。我的建议是：永远审视人们言论背后的动机，这对于判断其真实性至关重要。
AI makes good culture even more valuable
AI 让优秀的文化变得更有价值
Here is another really important point, and many people seem to forget it. As we mentioned, good culture is a prerequisite for everything else. But when it comes to AI, it amplifies everything you already have. So, both AI and good culture go hand in hand really well together. AI makes bad communication even worse, it also makes bad architecture even worse as well. 这是另一个非常重要的观点，许多人似乎忘记了。正如我们所提到的，优秀的文化是其他一切的前提。但当涉及到 AI 时，它会放大你现有的所有东西。因此，AI 和优秀的文化是相辅相成的。AI 会让糟糕的沟通变得更糟，也会让糟糕的架构变得更糟。
But if you have a good culture and good architecture, people will be more productive because they will help each other, and AI will also have a better blueprint of what good looks like because of good architecture. Always keep this in mind. 但如果你拥有优秀的文化和良好的架构，人们会更具生产力，因为他们会互相帮助；同时，由于良好的架构，AI 也能获得关于“什么是好产品”的更好蓝图。请务必牢记这一点。