A Letter About the Future We're Not Building Fast Enough

Something strange happened while we were busy building the future.

We got AI that can write novels and code entire applications. Yet we're still manually typing tasks into todo apps. Still setting reminders on our phones like it's 2007. Still juggling seventeen different apps to manage a single day.

Every day, you carry a mental load of small tasks: text Sarah back about dinner, add that meeting to the calendar, follow up with the contractor, check if John confirmed the proposal. These aren't complex tasks. They're barely tasks at all. They're mental debris that clutters your consciousness and interrupts your flow.

We were promised AI assistants. Instead, we got AI chatbots that wait for us to type the perfect prompt. We were promised automation. Instead, we got more apps to manage. We were promised the future would be effortless. Instead, we got complexity dressed up as convenience. It’s like having a world-class chef in your kitchen, but you’re still washing the dishes.

Your actual assistant would never make you fill out a form to schedule a meeting. They'd text Sarah back about dinner and nail down the details. They'd coordinate with the contractor and follow up until you get a real answer. They'd chase down John's confirmation and update your calendar without you lifting a finger. They'd just... handle it. But here we are, prompt engineering and copying and pasting ChatGPT to our email like digital cave people.

But what if technology actually worked for you?

At Background Engineering, we're building what should already exist. Tools that respect your attention instead of demanding it. Automation that actually automates. Technology that works quietly in the background, not performatively in the foreground.

The future isn't more software.
The future is less for you to think about.