I’d like to report a murder
I mean figuratively, of course.
Over the course of my career as a Product Manager for Digital Products, I often encountered a certain type of co-worker/boss. I call them the format purists. Generally, they are from a non-science, non-engineering background. Their way of looking at problems and their thoughts on the solutions are often bewildering to me. In a nutshell, they usually think form matters more than functionality (although they would be reluctant to admit to it in public).
Having a deep engineering background and going through the rigors of manually tuning SQL databases and learning how engineering is functionality-centered often put me on a collision course with these types of co-workers. Being pragmatic, I tried to find a middle path that satisfied these format purists, at least in their own opinion.
Most disagreements could be classified into two broad categories:
1. Documentalism — Tediously creating and formatting documents, language, grammar, voice, tone, executive summaries, reviews, etc., instead of focusing on the information content (I mean in the technical sense, Claude Shannon anyone?).
2. Designism — Endless design (visual or UX design) discussions on the placement of a button, color scheme, copy, icons, line space, etc., instead of shipping functionality out and then refining.
LLM killed Documentalism — Large Language Models have made formats irrelevant. Every inbound document in any format can be compressed into a few bullet points. Every outbound document can begin as a few notes and be blown out into artfully written text in the style of George RR Martin if one chooses to.
This bi-directional translation of formats makes format irrelevant. To be more precise, the ‘skill’ of formatting that format purists have come to rely on for survival in the corporate world is obsolete. Dead.
LAM killed (soon) Designism — Large Action Models like Rabbit OS make design irrelevant. The app-based interaction with technology is several decades old (yes, time flies).
Fumbling with icons, checkboxes, text fields is in the past. Human interaction has to be natural, i.e., human. LAMs make that possible. Rabbit OS is a great example of the direction in which things are headed. LAMs will simply make all UX design decisions irrelevant as humans only express intent and want results NOT a great button. Once again, people with an ‘eye for design skill’ in the digital app world should be worried. I give it 3 years tops before it too becomes obsolete.
Deng Xiaoping was right when he said- “It doesn’t matter if it is a black cat or a white cat as long as it catches the rat.”
PS: I am sure there are implications in the engineering front (co-pilot, Devin etc). Finally, as with anything new, we will go through an initial hype and then a bust followed by real rapid change. IMO this cycle will be shorter than the internet adoption cycle. Personally, I am super glad that I will have fewer opportunities to deal with format purists. Aren’t you too?