The Human Role: Chief Decision Officer
In a world of infinite agents, the human doesn't just 'work.' The human decides. Welcome to Knowledge Work 10.0.
As agents become more capable, a frantic existential question arises: “If the AI can write the code, design the logo, and draft the strategy… what is left for the humans?”
The answer is simple: Everything that matters.
The Decision Bottleneck
Agents are great at execution. They are tireless workers. But they are terrible at “Taste.” They are terrible at “Values.” They are terrible at “Context.”
- They can generate 1,000 marketing slogans in a minute. But they can’t tell you which one feels right for the brand.
- They can code 10 features. But they can’t tell you which one users will actually love.
- They can draft a legal settlement. But they can’t tell you if it’s “fair.”
The Human as CDO
Every knowledge worker is becoming a Chief Decision Officer (CDO) of their own micro-enterprise.
Your job is not to write the email. Your job is to:
- Define the Goal: “We need to apologize to the client without admitting liability.”
- Review the Draft: “Too formal. Make it warmer.”
- Decide: “Yes, this hits the right tone.”
- Hit Send: Take responsibility for the outcome.
Managing the Fleet
We need to develop talent not to “do the work,” but to “manage the fleet.”
- How do you spot a hallucination? (Audit skills).
- How do you correct an agent’s behavior without rewriting its code? (Feedback skills).
- How do you orchestrate 5 different agents to work together? (System design skills).
This is Super Productivity. A single human, armed with a fleet of agents, doing the work of a 20-person department from 2024. The human is the conductor. The agents are the orchestra. The music is infinite.
