Sam Schillace (Deputy CTO at Microsoft) addresses whether generative AI and agentic developer tools will reduce the headcount of software engineering teams.
Opinion
Schillace: Google Docs has become a complicated, bloated version of Microsoft Office
“To be honest, like, I'm a little bit sad at the state of Gdocs these days because I think they're losing sight of the idea that, you know, they're kind of turning it into Office and like making it very complicated to use again. And I find lots of things broken…”
Insight
Schillace: Failing early is better than failing late in technology
“Failing on the early side, you at least have a chance to, like, course correct, right? Because if you don't spend all your resources and burn out completely, you can keep going, and maybe the world catches up to you, or maybe you make the world catch up to you…”
Insight
Schillace: There is no prize for being pessimistic and right in tech
“There's not really much of a prize for being pessimistic and right about these things. Ok, you get a ribbon. Who cares? The prize is for being optimistic and right.”
Insight
Schillace: You cannot short broad technological revolutions
“You can't go short on, like, technical, technological revolution, right? You can't, like, short solar or some crazy shit like that. It tends to be wrong. We tend to figure stuff out over time. You know, at best, you're right for a little while, and eventually …”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Schillace: AI will make creating pixels free, radically altering software applications
“I have the suspicion that the nature of applications is going to change radically in the next five to 10 years. And so I think, you know, this idea that just in the same way that the internet made the distribution of information essentially free, AI, generativ…”
Insight
Schillace: Many businesses will be disrupted because their models rely on pixel expense
“I think there are lots of businesses out there that don't fully understand that they're predicated on the expense of creating pixels. And so similar disruption is in the works.”