I've long felt that part of being a well-rounded individual is balance. For me that often means moving my body. My work tends to involve a lot of sitting (or standing) in one place. To help with my "cabin fever," I like to get outside. Often that involves some sort of "mountain activity".
During winter months, skiing is my preferred activity. In the summer, I like to bike.
As an educator, I'm constantly thinking of ways to improve my teaching methods and engage my students. At some point, when you participate in an activity a lot, you notice things. Where am I weak? Where can I improve? How did they do that? Why can't I do that?
I've also read self-help books for improving athletic performance. Body mechanics (and awareness of said mechanics) is one of the most important aspects of improving performance. One should be aware of how their body moves. Generally, this is very hard unless you have a mirror, a video of yourself performing an action, or a coach to provide feedback. We tend to overestimate what our body is doing. Truthful awareness of real body mechanics can unlock a new skill.
I'll give an example in mountain biking. There is the notion of "pumping" the bike. When I started mountain biking in the late eighties, this skill (that existed in BMX) was not discussed. Now, we have "pump tracks", a small looped track with rollers and banked turns. Ideally, you should be able to ride around a pump track without pedaling - only pumping the bike.
The first time our high school mountain biking team went to a pump track, I thought "Cool, this will be easy." I proceeded to pedal (an illegal move on a pump track) and push and pull on the bike handlebars. It wasn't working. The unlock for me was pump with my legs. My attempts to pump with my arms (and pedalling) left most of my body static. I wasn't using my largest muscles to manipulate my body position and thus transfer energy to the bike. Once I realized that I needed to pump with my legs, I was able to ride the pump track without pedaling. It was a revelation.
That's not the whole story, though. Initially, I was barely pumping my legs. I was told to exaggerate the motion. Pump all the way down as far as you can, and then all the way up. Go past where it is comfortable. Exaggerate! By exaggerating the motion, I could physically "see" that my initial leg pump was too small. Only by exaggerating the motion could I see the full range of motion and understand how to use my legs effectively.
This same exaggeration technique can certainly be applied to other sports. I've used it in skiing.
I'm currently teaching my daughter how to throw a forehand and backhand in (ultimate) frisbee. She tends to throw with only the forearm and wrist. By having her exaggerate the motion of her entire arm and body, she can see how much more power and control she can generate. Then she can recalibrate her throw to use the full range of motion without overdoing it.
What does any of this have to do with technology? We are in a space where AI can now write most code for us. I've found that allows me to force the AI to apply all of the software engineering best-practices that I want. The geek in me rejoices! In the past, many of those best practices were often ignored or sacrificed for expediency.
Don't just let AI pull your body down the hill. Exaggerate the best practices and techniques that you want to see in your application. Then you can come back and recalibrate to determine what is actually needed.
If your team isn't aware of best practices, reach out. I think I can help.