I think Marx talks about this. The problem in his view was mostly the assembly line disassociating your work from the end product. He valued individual tradesmen perfecting a craft and moving any repetitive work to machines.
But I don't think it's quite right. Take a look at the joy in mission control when they achieve their goal. No one is responsible for physically making any part of that rover, shuttle, etc. but the joy of accomplishment is still real.
I'd imagine the joy of launching a highly successful digital product is just as real.
I think the disassociating comes from not feeling like you played a part in the product. I think authority over a product's idea/vision is just as satisfying as authority over it's physical shape.
Having occupied each of the 4 quadrants of the (physical/digital, vision/worker) tuple at some point in my life, I disagree. The move from (digital, vision) to (physical, worker) was a joyous one for me.
But I don't think it's quite right. Take a look at the joy in mission control when they achieve their goal. No one is responsible for physically making any part of that rover, shuttle, etc. but the joy of accomplishment is still real.
I'd imagine the joy of launching a highly successful digital product is just as real.
I think the disassociating comes from not feeling like you played a part in the product. I think authority over a product's idea/vision is just as satisfying as authority over it's physical shape.