The Art of Automation in Modern Engineering
Designing Systems That Think Without Forgetting to Feel
By Nigel Dsouza
We used to automate because we were lazy.
Now we automate because we must.
In a world of hyperscale systems, incident fatigue, and the unrelenting pressure of uptime, automation is no longer a luxury — it’s the nervous system of modern engineering.
But here’s the catch:
Most automation isn’t beautiful.
It’s brittle. It’s soulless. It gets the job done, but no one knows how. Or why. Or what to do when it breaks.
Which begs the question:
What if automation could be art?
🔧 Beyond Scripts and Cron Jobs
Real automation isn’t about writing bash scripts or wiring up webhooks.
It’s about designing intent.
It’s about:
- Embedding wisdom into pipelines
- Anticipating failure
- Choreographing recovery
- Orchestrating workflows that feel alive
At Fidelity, I’ve built automation frameworks that touch everything from CI/CD to disaster recovery — and I’ve learned this:
Bad automation saves time.
Good automation saves teams.
🎶 When Systems Become Symphony
Think of your infrastructure like an orchestra:
- 🎵 Jenkins is your conductor
- 🎻 Terraform is the string section — precise, declarative
- 🥁 Lambda functions are percussion — fast, ephemeral, rhythmic
- 🎺 Alerts and monitors are the brass — loud, essential, sometimes alarming
You don’t just want them to play.
You want them to play well together.
That’s the art.
⚠️ The Cost of Frictionless Systems
The danger with perfect automation is that it can remove too much friction.
- No one reads the logs.
- No one asks questions.
- No one remembers how things work — until they don’t.
Which is why the best automation doesn’t just remove humans.
It supports them. It teaches. It leaves trails.
It respects context.
✨ Designing for Delight, Not Just Delivery
Your pipeline can be a joy to use.
Your self-healing scripts can come with ASCII art.
Your alerts can be tuned like instruments — not alarms.
Because automation isn’t just execution — it’s experience.
And if we want engineers to trust the system, to enjoy using it, to build upon it, then we have to make it more than functional.
We have to make it feelable.
🎨 Conclusion: Automate Like an Artist
The next wave of engineering leaders won’t be those who can write the fastest script — but those who can build systems that run themselves without losing their soul.
So the next time you write a pipeline, ask:
- Does this automate a task, or teach a mindset?
- Will the next person understand it, or fear it?
- Did I just save time — or create trust?
Because automation isn’t just a tool.
It’s a medium.
And some of us were born to make it art.
👤 About the Author
Nigel Dsouza is a Principal Software Engineer and Technical Lead at Fidelity Investments,
where he designs automated cloud systems that are as resilient as they are human.
He believes every Jenkinsfile is a brushstroke —
and every pipeline, a performance.
Interesting and well written.