Here's the kicker: AI was supposed to automate the boring parts so we could “focus on high-leverage, strategic, needle-moving, synergistic core competencies.” Instead, we’re stuck in a recursive loop of prompt engineering, hallucination triage, output validation, re-prompting, Slack channel FOMO, and productivity theater. We’ve basically replaced “doing the work” with “managing the tool that kinda tries to do the work but needs babysitting.” Congrats—we’ve invented Jira for thought. And here's the kicker.