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I don't understand why GenAI hasn't replaced middle management yet. One VP should be able to use GenAI stuff to manage hundreds+ of direct reports. They'd be

I don't understand why GenAI hasn't replaced middle management yet. One VP should be able to use GenAI stuff to manage hundreds+ of direct reports. They'd be able to ask agents for status updates whenever that part of their gray matter wakes up, and there'd be less meetings for everyone.

paulddraper 1y ago
It has to some extent. Note how often product managers or engineering managers appear in layoffs. Just happened to a neighbor.
- apwell23 1y ago
  EMs are usually safer unless the whole team is being vanished. which also happens but IC layoffs are more common.
apwell23 1y ago
ceos love love love middle management. Its their favorite thing in the world. They are addicted to it. Ignore all the talk about 'the flattening' . middle management is back with a vengeance, bigger than ever, at meta and airbnb.
MangoToupe 1y ago
I can't my finger on exactly why, but I have the strong feeling that having a liable human is greatly desired. Perhaps because upper management themselves don't want to be liable for managing an AI.
Spooky23 1y ago
The AI isn’t accountable. A lot of the AI purging is a dressing up the ridiculous over hiring at these big companies and anticipating the economic malaise to come. This fall is going to be a bloodbath.
deleted 1y ago
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mingus88 1y ago
I’ve seen this take and it just feels like it’s coming from an IC who resents their manager or doesn’t understand the role. Thing is there are plenty of useless managers. There are also useless ICs and useless C-suite execs. GenAI might replace them all. A good middle manager (any manager really) needs to have a degree of empathy to keep people motivated. They need to read beyond the status updates to understand what’s actually happening. You can easily replace junior engineers with genAI because most of that role was automated training the models from all the stuff junior engineers read. It’s going to be a disaster if you think posting status updates to a glorified slack bot is going to give you the same outcomes as a good manager who knows how to manage humans.
- apwell23 1y ago
  > IC who resents their manager or doesn’t understand the role. Its easy to blame IC . Why is this so common?

paulddraper 1y ago

It has to some extent. Note how often product managers or engineering managers appear in layoffs. Just happened to a neighbor.

apwell23 1y ago
EMs are usually safer unless the whole team is being vanished. which also happens but IC layoffs are more common.

apwell23 1y ago

ceos love love love middle management. Its their favorite thing in the world. They are addicted to it. Ignore all the talk about 'the flattening' . middle management is back with a vengeance, bigger than ever, at meta and airbnb.

MangoToupe 1y ago

I can't my finger on exactly why, but I have the strong feeling that having a liable human is greatly desired. Perhaps because upper management themselves don't want to be liable for managing an AI.

Spooky23 1y ago

The AI isn’t accountable. A lot of the AI purging is a dressing up the ridiculous over hiring at these big companies and anticipating the economic malaise to come. This fall is going to be a bloodbath.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

mingus88 1y ago

I’ve seen this take and it just feels like it’s coming from an IC who resents their manager or doesn’t understand the role. Thing is there are plenty of useless managers. There are also useless ICs and useless C-suite execs. GenAI might replace them all. A good middle manager (any manager really) needs to have a degree of empathy to keep people motivated. They need to read beyond the status updates to understand what’s actually happening. You can easily replace junior engineers with genAI because most of that role was automated training the models from all the stuff junior engineers read. It’s going to be a disaster if you think posting status updates to a glorified slack bot is going to give you the same outcomes as a good manager who knows how to manage humans.

apwell23 1y ago
> IC who resents their manager or doesn’t understand the role. Its easy to blame IC . Why is this so common?