March already feels like a long time ago, yet it was a surprisingly memorable month, and not just because it was my birthday month. I really should get these monthly wrap-up posts out sooner, but before everything fades into the blur of “earlier this year,” here’s a quick look at three moments from March that many of us are still talking about.
In my head, March will go down as the month of viral videos and marketing teams having an absolute field day, from McDonald’s CEO taking a very big bite of his own product to the saga of the stolen KitKats. But beyond the internet’s usual chaos, it was also a month that had a lot to say about AI. As much as I am tempted to avoid turning this into a “what’s happening in AI” post, two of the three biggest stories sit firmly in that space, and the conversation around AI is not slowing down anytime soon. Maybe this is what it felt like decades ago when electricity first entered the chat.
First up is Block. Not the layoff of 40% of its workforce that ended February, but Jack Dorsey’s article, co-written with Roelof Botha, which gave us plenty to talk about as March came to a close. The piece traces how management structures have evolved over time, from the Roman Empire to the Prussian and US Army models, and into the modern organization. At the heart of it is a bold and slightly uncomfortable idea: AI is set to significantly reshape, if not eliminate, traditional layers of middle management. Dorsey frames the future of work around three core types of contributors. First, individual contributors, or ICs, who build and operate capabilities, the model, the intelligence layer, and the interfaces. Second, Directly Responsible Individuals, or DRIs, who own specific cross-cutting problems or opportunities and customer outcomes. And third, player-coaches, who combine building with developing people. I would highly recommend giving the article a read or listening to the podcast episode.
I have said this many times on this blog, and I will say it again: ever since managers were introduced, organizations have been looking for a way to get rid of them. In this article, Dorsey treats management largely as a communication and information-flow solve, while overlooking the psychological reality of why people go to work and who they work for. If Dorsey were managing 6,000 direct reports with AI as the primary communicator, it would require a significant rewiring of how humans stay motivated, creative, and connected to purpose. Block is definitely one to watch as it experiments with this model. Will it follow the same path as Holacracy or Spotify’s failed experiment? Only time will tell.
Secondly, and still very much in the AI lane, we have the newest employer on the block (pun absolutely intended). At first glance, rentahuman.ai looks like a clever bit of internet theatre, with agents paying humans when they need someone in the real world. With more than 720,000 sign-ups for tasks ranging from holding up placards to delivering packages or tasting coffee, the platform paints a slightly dystopian picture of where the market may be heading. That may sound dramatic, but the fact that a platform like this can exist and attract attention suggests that companies are already thinking about work in a very different way.
If AI can automate more of the routine, then perhaps the real premium will sit with people who can bring judgment, context, creativity, or simply a human point of view. We are starting to see which kinds of work may never be automated by agents or robots, and whether those are actually the kinds of tasks people want to keep doing. What happens if the work no one wants to do is all that is left? I have not signed up to be rented out by agents just yet, mostly because most of the tasks seem to be US-based, but it is on my to-do list this week as I am curious to try the remote meatspace experience. And yes, the branding could definitely use a more human touch.
Lastly, the Iran war continued to cause havoc in many ways, and one of its unexpected side effects in March was that countries like Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Pakistan moved to a four-day working week. In Sri Lanka, the government even declared every Wednesday from 18 March a holiday in an effort to save fuel, although that measure lasted only three weeks before it was withdrawn. As much as I have wanted the four-day work week to become the norm since 2021, it seems we are still a long way from getting there. Maybe that changes when we finally get around to implementing an AI tax, but that is a story for another time.
From eliminating middle management to renting humans to the shortest four-day workweek experiment, March had a lot going on. Some of these developments feel exciting, some feel unsettling, and some feel like a sign that the future of work is arriving faster than many of us are ready for. Either way, it really does feel like the best of times and the worst of times. Which big March news did I miss? Let me know in the comments below.
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