Work Design ① [Preface]

Preface

There is a phrase my children always used to say to me.
"Mom, you're playing on the computer again."

……I'm not playing. I'm working.

It was frustrating. So, I made a decision on my 60th birthday.
I would get a national certification and surprise them.

The IT Passport. I failed three times. I thought my head was going to explode.
But I passed. Honestly, I was surprised myself.
"I meant to walk the talk, but I didn't think I'd actually pass..."

This is the person who wrote this book.

I have been working since I was in the fifth grade of elementary school.

My highest level of education is high school. I don't care about academic background. But I wanted my children to go to university.
So, I always worked multiple jobs.
My main job from the morning. Piecework after the children went to sleep. A snack bar at night. Washing dishes on the weekends.
There was a time when I was working up to four jobs at once.
It was an era before telework. I would go pick up the work in the morning and deliver it at night.
I had an office computer placed in my home and worked as a key puncher the whole time.
My children still seem to find comfort in the sound of the keyboard clicking. (Laughs)

While "side jobs" are common now, that term didn't even exist back then.
I was just doing everything I could for my children.

I have had countless occupations.

Key puncher. Office clerk. Accounting. Sales management. General affairs. Manufacturing. Logistics. Chemical analysis. Product safety.
Restaurants, supermarkets, welding... though the welding was back when I was in elementary school.
I'm now in my third year of day trading, too. (Laughs)
The reason I've had so many jobs is because I was always juggling side work.

Wherever I went, before I knew it, I was observing the "flow of work."
Why does it stop here? Why do mistakes happen here? How can it run more smoothly?
That was my habit.

I like observing people.

I watch people closely. Strangely enough, I think I'm the type who can tell what they are thinking.
It's tiring, but it can't be helped.

I now believe that the power to observe people and the power to observe structures are actually the same thing.
Observe people. You understand what that person needs.
Observe structures. You understand what the data needs.
Both are about "looking at the inside, not the surface."

That is why, before building a system, I first looked at the people.
I didn't look at the screen; I looked at the work. I didn't look at the program; I looked at the flow.
That is everything I want to convey in this book.

The first computer I ever touched didn't even have a screen.

Punched tape. It was an era where you punched holes in paper to input data.
From there, to floppy disks, Windows 3.1, and now Windows 11.
I have watched this incredible evolution from the sidelines the whole time.
I love computers. I am excited to see what will happen next.

This year, at 63, I used the power of AI to create machine learning with Python.
I also made LINE stickers. I wrote lyrics and composed music. I wrote this book, too.
It is possible. To do things beyond your own perceived abilities.

At the company that became the inspiration for writing this book, there was a major accident.

While I was working, a 4-ton truck crashed into me.
I couldn't type on my keyboard anymore. But I felt this was all I had, so I kept going.

A while later, a hydrogen battery exploded.
The entire site burned down. I was truly terrified.

At that moment, someone from my current company reached out to me.
"It's dangerous there, come work with us."
They had been making offers for three years, waiting for me.

This month, my rehabilitation doctor gave me the green light with "no restrictions."
I have been doing rehabilitation and acupuncture treatment for four or five years now.
I wrote this book while in that state.

When things are at their hardest, smile.

That is the phrase I have always told my children.
Even when things were so painful I couldn't smile, I did. If I smiled, I managed to get by.
That is why I am still smiling today.

There is only one thing I want to convey in this book.

We have entered an era where AI writes programs.
That is precisely why there is work left for humans.
Thinking about structure. Designing business workflows. Mapping out how data moves.
That has nothing to do with academic background. People who know the front lines are faster at grasping the essence.

In fact, when I talked about "structure" to brilliant people with PhDs, they all looked at me with confusion.
But those who had worked their way up from the front lines without degrees understood it immediately.

You can know the work, but if you don't know the structure, you cannot build a system.
And the ability to see structure is the same as the ability to see people.
Those who cannot see people cannot see structure either.

I believe this is an opportunity. Even without a degree, those who have walked the front lines can see things others cannot.

My grandchildren are learning programming at school now and attending programming cram schools.
By the time they are adults, AI will be even smarter.
However, the ability to think about "what people are struggling with" is something only humans possess.
People who possess that power will build the companies and society of the future.

I wrote this book because I wanted to leave that to the next generation.

This is not a technical manual. Nor is it a success story.
I especially want those who feel bitter about not having a degree to read this. (Laughs)
And to my grandchildren.

Kokoro, Yuura