We built an entire industry to manage developers who didn't care.

Swipe to see the tax
02
The Problem

Software ate the world. Businesses needed more code.

More code needed more coders. But there weren't enough people passionate about building products to fill all those seats.

03
The Deal

'Tell me what to build. I'll express it in Java.'

Not product thinkers. Translators. Requirements in, code out. That was the implicit contract.

Translators need infrastructure.

05
The Tax

The Translation Layer Tax

1.
Product Owners to specify what to translate
2.
Scrum Masters to keep translators on track
3.
QA Engineers to verify the translation
4.
Agile Coaches to make them feel engaged

AI doesn't need any of that.

07
The Shift

AI explores. Assumes. Iterates.

No tickets. No sprint planning. No 'I need more requirements.' Wrong direction? git revert. 30 minutes, not 4 days.

What survives

Berufung

/bəˈʁuːfʊŋ/

Your calling. Not your job. The difference between coding because you're drawn to it—and coding because someone said 'learn to code.'

For 20 years the pressure was on POs: 'Write better requirements.' Now it flips.

The programming language is a tool. Not the definition of your work.