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AI, to me, seems perfectly positioned to replace a lot of middle managers. Maybe not "every manager at X level", but if you've got some central tool that flows

AI, to me, seems perfectly positioned to replace a lot of middle managers. Maybe not "every manager at X level", but if you've got some central tool that flows information up and down the chain, and can dig into data on your local network for backup/proof, you could make most middle managers much more efficient. Suddenly, one scrum master covering 4 teams is very feasible. They already know what they need to know, and their status has been reported long before they even started the meeting.

rightbyte 1y ago
The Scrum lords and managers might use LLMs to add beurocratic complexity instead of becoming efficient.
- tart-lemonade 1y ago
  Alternatively, it could become more efficient at creating inefficiencies. Imagine pushing your vibe-coded changes triggering a CI hook that uses an LLM to create a TPS report per commit+pipeline in a merge request, which another LLM-based bureaucrat could use to decide whether the MR should be approved, generating its own TPS reports in turn which some middle manager could use their LLM to summarize. Think of all the shareholder value we could create by going all-in on AI!
  - Gigachad 1y ago
    The number of vibe coded PRs clogging up the review queues is going up. When you ask the submitter what some nonsense line of code is doing and what it's for, they have no idea. Slowing the whole process down.
    - derwiki 1y ago
      It definitely takes me more time to review PRs now, and I have more PRs to review. Agent created code seems “fine” but also seems like 30% more than is needed (total SWAG)
      - Gigachad 1y ago
        The worst part is how it destroys your implicit trust that the author ran and understood the code. The generated code looks fine but doesn't actually work because it was never run. So to properly review PRs today you have to spend a lot longer assuming nothing works and every detail needs to be carefully tested.
        derwiki 1y ago
        Is there’s no screenshots of it working or logs from a console showing it working, I kinda presume it won’t. In a previous role that was more front end facing (tablet experience for self driving cars), I had a few coworkers who would put out PRs that I knew could not have worked and were not tested. My nudge was “oh can you add a screenshot to the PR?” And they would realize it didn’t work and get back to me in a few days. Been dealing with this since before gen AI produced code haha.
Esophagus4 1y ago
I could see a world where a manager is able to cover more teams, reducing the need for as many layers / middle managers. Like… for year end reviews and bonuses, a manager might have a dashboard of feedback from an AI of everyone’s technical accomplishments, as AI can review their PRs and designs. At that point, an AI could even rank engineers based on contributions, so the manager just verifies that the feedback is all correct. Not saying that’s necessarily a good thing, but I could see a world where that happens. It already does seem to with Amazon warehouse workers.
- collingreen 1y ago
  Isn't that basically the doge story once the agencies investigating Tesla were shut down? One of the people policy said they didn't think anybody should actually be using their code
orwin 1y ago
I'm pretty sure AI would advantageously replace high level executive and McKinsey-type consulting (or most consulting even), but middle manager i'm not too sure. Depends on your company and what their job is.

rightbyte 1y ago

The Scrum lords and managers might use LLMs to add beurocratic complexity instead of becoming efficient.

tart-lemonade 1y ago
Alternatively, it could become more efficient at creating inefficiencies. Imagine pushing your vibe-coded changes triggering a CI hook that uses an LLM to create a TPS report per commit+pipeline in a merge request, which another LLM-based bureaucrat could use to decide whether the MR should be approved, generating its own TPS reports in turn which some middle manager could use their LLM to summarize. Think of all the shareholder value we could create by going all-in on AI!
- Gigachad 1y ago
  The number of vibe coded PRs clogging up the review queues is going up. When you ask the submitter what some nonsense line of code is doing and what it's for, they have no idea. Slowing the whole process down.
  - derwiki 1y ago
    It definitely takes me more time to review PRs now, and I have more PRs to review. Agent created code seems “fine” but also seems like 30% more than is needed (total SWAG)
    - Gigachad 1y ago
      The worst part is how it destroys your implicit trust that the author ran and understood the code. The generated code looks fine but doesn't actually work because it was never run. So to properly review PRs today you have to spend a lot longer assuming nothing works and every detail needs to be carefully tested.
      - derwiki 1y ago
        Is there’s no screenshots of it working or logs from a console showing it working, I kinda presume it won’t. In a previous role that was more front end facing (tablet experience for self driving cars), I had a few coworkers who would put out PRs that I knew could not have worked and were not tested. My nudge was “oh can you add a screenshot to the PR?” And they would realize it didn’t work and get back to me in a few days. Been dealing with this since before gen AI produced code haha.

Esophagus4 1y ago

I could see a world where a manager is able to cover more teams, reducing the need for as many layers / middle managers. Like… for year end reviews and bonuses, a manager might have a dashboard of feedback from an AI of everyone’s technical accomplishments, as AI can review their PRs and designs. At that point, an AI could even rank engineers based on contributions, so the manager just verifies that the feedback is all correct. Not saying that’s necessarily a good thing, but I could see a world where that happens. It already does seem to with Amazon warehouse workers.

collingreen 1y ago
Isn't that basically the doge story once the agencies investigating Tesla were shut down? One of the people policy said they didn't think anybody should actually be using their code

orwin 1y ago

I'm pretty sure AI would advantageously replace high level executive and McKinsey-type consulting (or most consulting even), but middle manager i'm not too sure. Depends on your company and what their job is.