My agents are off writing code on my behalf, in a programming language I do not know. Workflow orchestration keeps the process moving and the tokens flowing. Things will get stuck, and when they do, an agent will ask for my help. To them I’m just a tool call. That tool has an important sounding name: "ResolveDecision." I am the decider. My agents need me.
How do I feel about my new role in the process of software development? In this moment, I have the luxury of sitting quietly and thinking deeply while productive work happens. This is what it’s like to be a boss. In a moment my phone will buzz with a message from an agent. It’s my time to shine. In that moment, I will (briefly) feel like a tool.
If this was all there was, then the bright future would seem bleak. In the Matrix, the humans were grown in vats to serve as batteries. Will the AIs keep me around just because I have taste?
Boris Cherny says “someone still has to prompt the AIs.” Can we break that statement down and study the useful roles humans still play in the future of work?
Here I want to step back from “software development” and consider “all knowledge work.” By now it’s pretty clear that software development is just the canary for changes that will soon sweep every industry.
Humans will maintain their role as decision-makers (“tools”) for some time. Not only do we have taste, but we’re also convenient vessels for liability, for when the AI messes up. If that’s your only job, you’re a disposable tool. This is an old trap! Legions of software developers already function as human machines to turn Jira tickets into pull requests. Those developers, if they make it are going to get squeezed harder for their taste.
The real value will accord to two groups:
Those who feed good ideas in the top. “What do we build?” “Whom do we build it for?” “When do we build it?” Nothing to see here; entrepreneurship isn’t going away.
Those who build the engines of productivity that turn good ideas into productive output. Today, we call this “agentic workflow orchestration.” It used to be called “management.” The software world has been iterating and automating it for decades, and naturally we’re the first to use AI to supercharge it.
Every industry and every job stands to benefit from workflow orchestration. Initially, there will be plenty of work in designing “bespoke orchestrations” for verticals. Management consultants used to produce Powerpoint decks and reports. Now they’ll produce executable markdown files into which AI agents will breathe life.
We’re going to have a good run during which these prompts are valuable. If you know how to wield agents, you can make good money just by thinking hard about management problems and writing good prompts. It won’t last. “Thinking and writing” were AI’s first trick.