That's true but employees offer more than code output, and you still need people operating the "machine" at this stage.
I am interested in how corporate politics evolves in this new environment. Usually all the way up the chain, managers and directors use head count as a measure of power and influence (and compensation). Who's going to pay a director top level pay when all they're doing is funneling requirements to various agents? That seems like a technical role that isn't particularly aligned with the soft skills management excel with either.
Management seems disconnected from reality. Real employees accumulate tribal knowledge, have an almost infinite context, and don’t keep disabling unit tests because they don’t pass. They don’t really cost money if it’s information workers that build almost all of the modern service industry. It’s management that we should see as a cost center.
I am interested in how corporate politics evolves in this new environment. Usually all the way up the chain, managers and directors use head count as a measure of power and influence (and compensation). Who's going to pay a director top level pay when all they're doing is funneling requirements to various agents? That seems like a technical role that isn't particularly aligned with the soft skills management excel with either.