When automation meets simplicity over Python or Ansible

We constantly hear that Ansible and Python are apparently the only ways to automate networks, today I even listen in a conversation "Python is the industry standard" probably I missed the RFC document or probably the guy was referring to a sales standard, but back to us what happens when the framework, the platform or the software we are using becomes heavier than the problem to solve? There is a moment where automation becomes necessary, not because we want to look modern, not because every task deserves a framework and not simply because adding automation automatically means we are doing things better. It becomes necessary because repeating the same command collection manually across many devices is slow, risky, boring and almost impossible to diff and validate properly especially under pressure. For this reason I built the Cisco Go Collector during a real migration activity with a very practical goal: collect configuration and command outputs from Cisco devices in an easily repeatable way, without forcing every colleague involved in the process to become developers or to install an automation stack just to run a super simple flow. The idea was simple: define the devices in a CSV which is the comfort zone for everyone define the commands in the same CSV file, super simple and organized to manage one row per device run a portable Go binary against that CSV file collect the outputs in organized text files archive the result as operational evidence that can be easily diff That is it! super lightweight to run no Python virtual environment no Ansible playbook structure no inventory hierarchy no framework onboarding no additional runtime or software on corporate managed workstations just a CSV file and a compiled binary The automation and AI trap when the solution is heavier than the problem to solve I love automation and I fully support AI if used the proper way, but we have to find a balance and recognize when to choose one tool over the other and specially one progra