Vibe Management
Vibe coding is taking the internet by storm. Popularized by Andrej Karpathy, it changes the entire industry. But why only engineers should have all the fun?
I’m in favor of making as many professions in tech redundant, as possible. I mean, if I can enjoy singularity while vibing my way through my code, why upper and middle management shouldn’t? And the reality is they should! And they can!
As of today, both ChatGPT and Claude are more than capable of replacing your average middle manager such as team lead or product manager. Here is an example of an interaction between a product manager and a potential customer that begs for a feature:
You are a product manager, and a customer requests a certain feature to be implemented. The truth is, you are over capacity, and don't really want to implement it, but it is your duty to make your customers happy, it's in the DNA of your company "Customers First". Write a short statement that will make the customer feel good, without making any commitment about deadlines, or even if the feature will be delivered at all.
Thank you for sharing your feedback! We truly appreciate hearing from our customers, as your insights help shape the future of our product. This is an interesting idea, and we’ll be sure to take it into consideration as we evaluate potential improvements. While I can’t provide a specific timeline, please know that our team is always looking for ways to enhance the experience. Keep the great ideas coming—we love hearing from you!
Delightful!
But we won’t stop there. Team lead is our next goal! Coming up with a good way to share negative feedback, is a very challenging thing. It can even harm your mental health, or turn your subordinates against you. But don’t worry, we can remove YOU from the equation, and instead let ChatGPT do the heavy lifting:
You are a team lead of in small engineering team. One of your peers underperforms. It is your duty to deliver negative feedback to them, without hurting their feelings or demoralizing them even more, as well as protecting yourself from getting labeled as a bad manager. Write a short statement that you can say during 1-on-1 with your subordinate, to make sure they will understand that they need to start performing, or there is a big line of candidates that can replace them.
Hey [Name], I wanted to take some time to check in with you. I’ve noticed that some of your recent work hasn’t quite met the expectations we set, and I want to understand if there’s anything blocking you or if you need support in any way. My goal is to see you succeed here, and I know you’re capable of more. That said, we do have high standards, and I need to see improvement moving forward. Let’s work together to make sure you’re on track because this is a competitive environment, and I want you to be in the best position possible. What can we do to help you step up?
Now that’s a banger! Who wouldn’t want to dedicate 24 hours a day to their corporate overlord after hearing such constructive and thoughtful feedback!
Let’s take it a step further. When there is no middle management, we can argue for the necessity of upper management. Undoubtedly, but CEOs perform a very important role in the company. But the truth is, with the help of ChatGPT, the CEO can forget that problems exist, and embrace exponentials. They no longer need PR teams, and they can create infinite number of iterations before they land on something they like. And they don’t even have to touch the keyboard, they can talk to Whisper. They can run a company, but it’s not really running a company — they just type stuff, copy stuff, and see stuff, and it mostly works:
You are the CEO of security company called CrawlStroke, and earlier today, your company have shipped a bricked update that broke the entire internet. Blue screen of death is present at airports, hospitals, emergency service, banks, etc. Everyone is angry, and shareholder are not happy. Write an apologetic press release, with emphasis on taking full accountability, fixing it as fast as possible, and offering a 10$ discount for Uber eats to your customers.
SUNNYVALE, Calif. — [DATE] — This morning, CrawlStroke issued a routine security update that, due to an unforeseen technical error, resulted in widespread system failures across multiple industries. We recognize the severity of this incident, and we take full accountability for the disruption this has caused to businesses, critical infrastructure, and individuals worldwide.
First and foremost, we deeply regret the impact this has had on hospitals, emergency services, airports, financial institutions, and countless other organizations that depend on stable, secure systems. Keeping the world safe from cyber threats is our mission, and today, we failed to uphold that responsibility. For that, we are truly sorry.
Our top engineers have been working around the clock to resolve the issue. We have already deployed a fix to affected systems, and we are providing direct assistance to organizations still experiencing issues. If your business is still impacted, we urge you to contact our emergency response team immediately at [support hotline/email].
While we cannot undo the disruption this has caused, we want to make things right. As a small token of our apology, we are offering a $10 Uber Eats credit to our affected customers. We know this doesn’t fix everything, but we hope it brings some relief during this challenging time. Details on how to redeem this offer will be provided via email.
We are conducting a full internal review to understand how this happened and to ensure it never happens again. Transparency and accountability are core to our values, and we will share our findings once our investigation is complete.
We appreciate the patience and resilience of our customers, partners, and the global community as we work swiftly to restore normalcy. We will provide ongoing updates at [company website/social media].
Sincerely, [Your Name] Chief Executive Officer CrawlStroke
OMG 🤩! Who wouldn’t want to make business with such an accountable CEO?
So here you have it! It’s a new kind of management and leadership that I call “Vibe Management” and “Vibe Leadership” where you just give in to the vibes. And I predict that it will replace 90% of upper and middle management in the next year, and within five years, all upper and middle management will be able to join us, software engineers, in the singularity, while all of us will be just vibing our way through our careers!
Bright future ahead of us!