"In my twenties I was thrashing around in the water, trying to keep my head above it. In my thirties, I realized it was only three feet deep and I stood up." This is hella useful (however old you are).
I felt pretty good about our application and stand behind it. Just a bummer to have what was a highly enjoyable process be capped off like this. As Arielle said, this sort of thing can have a major chilling effect - I hope it doesn't put women off from applying in the future.
And btw I'd do it all again.
I read this and didn't love the term "Shadow Work" because I found it imprecise. I have always used the term "transaction costs" to account for the additional requirements of doing XYZ. So with airport kiosks, the benefits of being waited on by a ticket agent (if that is a benefit) are vastly outweighed by the saved transaction costs of waiting in a huge long line. Nor did the article address the other reasons that automation is good for business: customers appreciate saving time, and will pay for it.
It is true that the things that were supposed to save us time create new transaction costs (otherwise "email bankruptcy" and "inbox zero" would not now be the lingo du jour). But I think this article needs to be way more nuanced to address the difference between shadow work and the benefits derived therefrom.