Managing the bots that are managing the business

Abstract

The core function of management has gone from managing the business to managing the bots that are managing the business. A typical programmer in a 20th century IT shop was a worker building to a specification, not that different from a shop floor worker assembling a predefined product. A 21st century software developer is deeply engaged in product design and iterative, customer-focused development. Leadership means organizing a shared creative vision. Technology is not a back-office function. It is central to the management capability of the entire organization. And companies whose CEOs are also the chief product designers (think Larry Page of Alphabet Inc., Jeff Bezos of Amazon, or Apple under Steve Jobs) can outperform those whose leaders lack the capability to lead not just their human workers but their electronic workers as well. Even in jobs that are not considered programming jobs, the ability to create and marshal electronic resources is key to advancement. The great management challenge of the next few decades will be understanding how to get the best out of both humans and machines, and understanding the ins and outs of who manages whom.