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Replacing Engineering Managers with AI Agents

engineeringcalm.com

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Re: Replacing Engineering Managers with AI Agents

#31

Post by analog31 »

sarchertech wrote: post #15

"Morning Stand-up Meetings: Instead of traditional stand-ups, engineers log into their systems and provide a brief update by sending a short voice message. EMAI processes these updates, analyzing voice tones for stress or uncertainty, ensuring it can provide resources or assistance if an engineer faces challenges. Task Allocation: Using real-time data on each engineer's strengths, past performance, learning curve, an…

Just replace EMAI with MBA and you've got standard business training. It will work at least as well.

Re: Replacing Engineering Managers with AI Agents

#32

Post by encoderer »

Fact is, a lot of the actual ground-work of management is pushed down to the corps of front line managers and senior managers above them. So for example when a VP concludes a reorg is necessary and Directors have to figure out who goes where, the front line managers are the ones figuring out how to actually take on the new responsibilities, hand off the old ones, and keep the systems running.

The things mentioned in the article like stand ups aren’t even orchestrated by managers in a lot of companies and besides are a tiny aspect of the job.

Get real dudes.

Re: Replacing Engineering Managers with AI Agents

#33

Post by goodroot »

Madmallard wrote: post #6
staunton wrote: post #4

So I guess the coders get replaced first after all? Sounds like a more natural progression. There's more of them and it's easier/faster to tell if their work is getting done. And they don't need any "empathy" while writing their code (or so they think at least, is what seems to explain a lot of UI decisions...)

probably because AI is awful at coding anything complex but the social and communication skills these companies value so hard are actually easily done by AI. The social elite are far more replaceable by text. What a world we live in.

> but the social and communication skills these companies value so hard are actually easily done by AI

Can you expand this premise?

It invalidates not just managers, but therapy, virtually any social function.

Re: Replacing Engineering Managers with AI Agents

#34

Post by simonw »

Here's the problem: AI is gullible. INCREDIBLY gullible.

Prompt injection is an attack against AI gullibility.

Gullibility is not a characteristic of competent managers. One of the most important jobs of managers is to be able to see through bullshit and figure out what's actually going on.

I am extremely skeptical that the current generation of AI is capable of doing that.

Re: Replacing Engineering Managers with AI Agents

#35

Post by dools »

I ran a team of 26 people who worked together to produce software according to a set of procedures. There were clear instructions about accountability, moving stuck tasks, when/how work should be moved from one person to another, how the work was tested and so on. There was a role called Scheduling Assistant which was fulfilled by a person with no engineering experience, their only role was to ensure compliance with the process and pick up when something wasn't proceeding as expected.

I was a product manager but not really a project manager. I was also a tech lead: when things went awry and someone couldn't figure out how to get it unstuck I would unstick it, but in general the system just produced functional software. My primary inputs were sketches at the start and ongoing client feedback and so on.

All the workers were in different locations, in completely different timezones, and they all reported a high level of satisfaction. So I don't even think you need AI, you just need better procedures.

Re: Replacing Engineering Managers with AI Agents

#37

Post by dinvlad »

sarchertech wrote: post #15

"Morning Stand-up Meetings: Instead of traditional stand-ups, engineers log into their systems and provide a brief update by sending a short voice message. EMAI processes these updates, analyzing voice tones for stress or uncertainty, ensuring it can provide resources or assistance if an engineer faces challenges. Task Allocation: Using real-time data on each engineer's strengths, past performance, learning curve, an…

Unless this is satire at its finest, I think it'd be safe to assume the people who wrote that have never worked as a proper Engineering Manager, or if they did they were a horrible one.

Re: Replacing Engineering Managers with AI Agents

#39

Post by gs17 »

sarchertech wrote: post #15

"Morning Stand-up Meetings: Instead of traditional stand-ups, engineers log into their systems and provide a brief update by sending a short voice message. EMAI processes these updates, analyzing voice tones for stress or uncertainty, ensuring it can provide resources or assistance if an engineer faces challenges. Task Allocation: Using real-time data on each engineer's strengths, past performance, learning curve, an…

>Task Allocation: Using real-time data on each engineer's strengths, past performance, learning curve, and even their preferred working hours, EMAI allocates tasks from the backlog. It uses predictive modeling to optimize for both efficiency and team satisfaction.

I feel like there's a Dilbert (pre-cancellation) strip in this with the AI ending up assigning everyone no work because everyone's "preferred working hours" are no hours and getting paid to do nothing leads to the most team satisfaction.

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