One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man. –Elbert Hubbard
I find this to be very, very true when I talk to people about 100% automation goals, and outsourcing of iterative/isolated tasks.
People always respond “automation/outsourcing will take my job!”. My reply is always the same — no, it won’t, not if you alter the collateral/value you generate. People have the capacity to grow, to change and to learn. The automation of repeatable steps, and the outsourcing of isolated projects (generally, iterative and simple) frees people to excel in their area, to become domain specialists, and to generally “become better”.
Now, does it always work this way? No. Large corporations are notorious for automating/outsourcing and then canning a large swath of people. Like all ideas, and like all tools (and automation/outsourcing is a tool), the idea can be abused.
I am lucky enough to work for a company that is small, agile and understands these things. Both the benefits and the pitfalls of theses ideas.
Just a random thought.