Software teams now grapple with a fresh etiquette problem: when forwarding AI-generated content to colleagues, how much human effort should accompany it? The volume of robot-written code, documentation, and debugging notes has exploded, creating friction when teammates receive unprocessed AI output.

One developer recounts a teammate who sent an AI critique of their design proposal with the disclaimer that they hadn't actually read it. The recipient's reaction—'if reading this wasn't worth your time, why is mine?'—captures growing frustration with inconsiderate AI sharing practices.

The proposed principle is straightforward: demonstrate human effort when requesting human attention. This means clearly labeling AI-generated content before sharing, adding personal commentary to explain its relevance, and always reviewing AI-written code before asking teammates to evaluate it.

The underlying issue isn't the technology itself but respect for increasingly scarce human attention. As AI handles more of our writing tasks, these etiquette norms become essential for maintaining collaborative trust and keeping genuine human judgment alive in software development workflows.