>> Which kind of begs the question what is a manager? I've come to realise there are two basic kinds of manager. Firstly there's the one who interacts primari

>> Which kind of begs the question what is a manager? I've come to realise there are two basic kinds of manager. Firstly there's the one who interacts primarily one on one. He is able to understand the big picture, knows something about what's being done (enough to technically understand it) and identifies where communication between engineers needs to happen, or where one member of the team is getting off track. The other kind of manager doesn't really have that understanding. Their approach is regular meetings, with all team members at every meeting, regardless of the topic. These meetings are often on a regular schedule, like every Wednesday afternoon. Outside of these meetings, you pretty much do whatever you like. The first kind is typically preferable. Stuff gets done, better and quicker. The second kind gives you more team cover - everyone hears you warn about an upcoming issue so there's less dispute later and you don't get blamed behind your back. These projects though seem to take a lot longer (perhaps because more time is lost in meetings). So which kind could an AI replace? Well in one sense the second. A shallow understanding, a common forum for engineers to discuss issues, requests for time-lines etc. Sure, seems like a sufficiently good AI could stand in for done managers. The first kind though is much harder to replace. They have insight (can see issues coming before they happen), experience (we need to get hardware requirements in early because purchasing dept is slow), good people skills (Jane is capable, give her a task, she'll let you know when it's done, Bob is insecure, he needs praise every day) and so on. So I guess the answer to your question will depend a lot on the managers, and management, you have experienced along the way.