The train drivers here in Denmark are getting sicker and sicker, and it’s the computer’s fault. Specifically, it is the fault of the new fancy train driver schedule optimization software that our blundering national railway company has ineptly implemented.
It optimizes away people’s breaks, violates union-agreed rules, and fragments a train driver’s working day into running four different trains in a day instead of one or two.
It is a classic case of Spreadsheet Optimizing. Someone who doesn’t know the real world or cares about the people doing the work will twiddle with a spreadsheet or other software to gain a theoretical 1-2% benefit, but will realize a 10-20% loss.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, the difference is huge.