Do we ask ourselves an honest question about who really owns the automation within a company?
In my conversation with Darin Patterson, Vice President of Market Strategy at Make, we explore what happens when speed becomes the default requirement, but visibility and structure fail to keep up.
Make has become a breakout platform for teams looking to build automated workflows without writing code, and with AI agents joining the mix, the stakes feel even higher. Darin talks candidly about the tension between empowerment and chaos, especially in organizations that quickly and early embraced no-code tools, only to discover that automation can quietly turn into sprawl if left unchecked.
What struck me most is how strongly Darin challenges the idea that documentation alone can save modern IT teams. He argues that traditional monitoring tools and workflow documentation are collapsing under the weight of constant iteration.
That’s where Make Grid comes in. Make Grid creates an automatically generated, real-time visual map of a company’s automation ecosystem, something Darin describes as a watershed moment for governance.
He explains why this matters now, and not later. As companies deploy AI in processes that were once the domain of specialists, Grid provides a shared lens to understand what’s running, who built it, and where dependencies exist. It addresses a problem that many IT leaders are reluctant to admit publicly, which is that automation systems often grow faster than monitoring systems ever could.
Darin also offers a refreshingly grounded look at the psychology of ambitious teams. He talks about the need to avoid “anarchy without code,” a phrase I’ve heard whispered at conferences but rarely unpacked with clarity.
His vision is simple: trust teams to build, but give them shared maps, guardrails and governance that won’t slow them down. That balance between autonomy and oversight becomes even more meaningful when AI is introduced into workflows related to security, IT performance, and cross-team accountability.
Make Grid tries to restore that balance by visually representing the automation architecture, even if the internal documentation is outdated.
So here’s the question I want to leave you with: If AI agents can now design, connect, and deploy workflows across the organization, what role will visual governance play in keeping companies both fast and accountable? And what does good supervision look like when humans are no longer the only builders in the system?
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