Closing Air Gaps
Alternatively titled: Give unto robots what belongs to robots.
Hello fellow datanistas!
Ever find yourself copying files, pasting data, or doing the same manual task over and over? I used to think these were just part of the job—until I learned to spot the ‘air gaps’ that slow everything down.
This post is about recognizing and closing the manual bottlenecks—air gaps—in our workflows. By mapping out where humans are doing rote work that computers could handle, we can reclaim time, reduce errors, and free up our minds for more creative problems.
I first heard the term ‘air gap’ from my colleague Wenhao Liu, and it immediately clicked. An air gap is any point in a process where a human has to step in and do something a computer could (and probably should) do. Think of it as a bubble in your workflow pipe—slowing things down, introducing errors, and taxing your attention.
Air gaps are everywhere: copying files from a lab machine to cloud storage, manually tracking your GitHub activity, or physically moving plates in a lab. Each one is a tiny tax on your time and focus. The real cost isn’t just the minutes lost, but the mental overhead of remembering and repeating these tasks.
The first step to closing air gaps is mapping your process. Walk through each step and ask: where am I copying, pasting, or following a fixed rule? Where am I waiting for someone else? Each answer points to a potential air gap. Once you see them, you can prioritize which ones to automate away.
I’ve closed air gaps in my own work—like automating GitHub activity tracking and file transfers in the lab. Sometimes the fix is a simple script; sometimes it’s a coding agent that can handle more complex tasks. The key is imagination (can you picture a better way?) and just enough technical skill to get started. And if your tools don’t have APIs, browser agents can often fill the gap.
The goal isn’t to eliminate humans from the loop, but to let us focus on creative, judgment-heavy work. Let robots handle the dull, dirty, and repetitive. The compounding effect of closing even small air gaps is huge—what feels like a minor efficiency today can transform your workflow tomorrow.
Map your processes, spot the air gaps, and close them one by one. The small wins add up to big changes over time.
What’s the most annoying manual task you still do at work? Have you tried mapping your process to find air gaps?
If you’re curious about how to spot and close air gaps in your own workflows, check out the full post for practical examples and steps: Read the full blog post.
Cheers,
Eric