Agile

I feel guilty, the rest of the world has gone AI mad and I’ve said nothing about it. I’ve been hiding. Part of me feels sad and threatened, is AI going to wipe out the world I knew?

So here is my take. Since I come from a programming background, and since this is where a lot of the AI opportunities are supposed to be I’m going to talk about this. To those of you from elsewhere, let me ask: can you apply my logic to your world?

We’ve been here before, once upon a time code generators were gong to replace programmers, another time it was “programming in pictures”, another time it was 4GLs. Is this time different?

The term “AI” has been applied over the last 20 years to many systems which are little more than rules engines. These may not require programming but they do require configuration. Configuration which can be complicated – more than selecting Preferences/Edit/… and click. Instructing computer how to work, whatever the metaphor, is called programming. Anyone who says “With this tool I replace the programmers” just become a programmers themselves.

Many of those code generators, and programming by clicking systems replace one set of problems with another set.

A thought experiment

So, a thought experiment: lets suppose AI can write code as good as a human. Your programmers are replaced. What happens then?

First: do you trust what the AI writes? Or do you still need testers?

There have always been companies out there who forego testers and testing, undoubtedly many will. But in general you will want to test what the AI creates. Just because an AI says 2+2=5 does not make it right. There are already documented cases of AI exhibiting biases in things like identifying criminals.

In fact you probably need more testers for two reasons: programmers used to do some testing, while AI will not make silly syntax errors it will still make logic errors. Additionally if AIs writes more code faster than before there is simply more work in need of testing.

Second: how do you actually know what you want? – many programmers and testers spend most of their time actually understanding what customers want. Think: when you use travel planning software you may reject the first suggestion because it uses buses not trains, the second because there is too much walking, the third because you prefer connecting at one station over the other.

If the programmers are gone then testers might take on that work as part of testing (trial and error cycles). Or you might turn to Business Analysts and Product Managers. There are the specialists who understand what is wanted.

BAs and Product Managers have another role to play: post evaluation. Now it is cheaper to produce solutions there will be more solutions and someone needs to see whether they actually solve the problem you set out to solve.

In fact, there is more work to do in choosing the problems to solve in the first place. After all, building and deploying a new system is only part of the problem. What about training people to use it? What about changing the processes around it?

In fact, if we are introducing more technology and solutions faster than we are going to need more change managers analysts and consultants to advise on workflow improvements. One day your entire company may be machines working seamlessly together but until then you need to accommodate the people. Which means someone, be they BA or consultant, needs to look again at the workflow.

And if we know anything from the agile and digital movement of the last 20 years it is that changing our approach to work takes time. The technology is the easy bit. It takes years, decades even, for processes to change.

While there are still humans in the system there will still be interfaces which will need designing. Interface, UXD or experience design, is not an entirely logical processes. You need to look at how people respond. With more systems you have more interfaces and more need of interface designers.

And because adding features to your product is now so cheap you suddenly have an explosion of extra features which makes the interface more complicated and may even detract from your product value – remember how the iPod won out over other, more feature rich, competitors? So now you need you analysts and designers to limit the features you add and ensure those you do are usable.

So far we have removed programmers but increased the number of Testers, BAs, Product Manager and Designers.

In one form or another all these people will be telling the AI what to do, as I said this is call programming. So many of those new hires will be doing some form of programming. The programming paradigm has changed, perhaps its more high level, but it is still there.

If AI follows the pattern of past technology change (and why shouldn’t it?) then:

The full benefits of technology are not realised until the rest of the system, particularly processes, change to take advantage of the technology. This can take decades.

Programming isn’t going away

New technology is often billed as replacing previous technology and/or workers. It might do that in time but it also expands the market. Electricity did not eliminate candles, more candles are produced today than ever before but we don’t use them for lighting (so much.)

I don’t see AI programming bots replacing programmers in many detailed roles, perhaps ever. The ins and out of something like Modbus, and at the other extreme enterprise architecture, will make that hard. But there are domains were AI will dominate.

Finally, as we adopt new technology and processes we give rise to new innovations, we find new markets we can address and new ways of addressing existing problems. That generates work and new roles.

So I am sad to think the joys of youth spent writing ‘Writeln(“Hello world.”)’ are coming to an end, and my children will probably never experience the joy of feeling a machine perform their wishes (LDA#0, JSR OSWord, anyone?) those days are already gone.

Rationally I know AI is not something to fear (at least in the jobs context) but emotions are not always rational.