People are needed to scale software development

One thing is clear: the technology behind software development is changing faster than ever. As a result, organizations are also forced to change. At the same time, people remain the same.

This is also likely true: the organizations that succeed are those that can scale their operations with the help of artificial intelligence.

Success requires good technology, a functioning organization, and most importantly, skilled people. But how to achieve this?

The best results come from teams that work well together

Most of us started our software development careers by learning programming, environments, and tools. Our identity was largely built on being able to write functioning code. Next, we gained an understanding of architecture and larger entities.

Eventually, it turned out that most of the problems were not technical. They were related to people: ambiguities, prioritization, communication, and responsibilities.

Everyone’s own actions affect the entire system. Culture is created from small things, from the interactions between individuals. Can we transform from solo performers into enablers and create value by helping others around us succeed?

The importance of leadership grows in the AI era

Then came generative artificial intelligence.

Much has already been written about the productivity of AI and its impact. If one developer can produce a multiple amount of code compared to before, coding is likely no longer the bottleneck. The bottleneck shifts to what is being done, why, and in what order. In practice, it shifts to decision-making and chosen direction. This means that the importance of leadership does not decrease but increases. A lot.

Some opinions suggest that AI levels the differences between developers. My own view is the opposite. Artificial intelligence does not make everyone top performers. It strengthens those who think clearly and those who understand complex problems.

If you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll just end up with a worse outcome faster.

If you understand the problem and can form the right solution in your mind, the result will be great.

Back to the roots of software development

A good software developer is not just an implementer but a designer who understands what is being solved. At best, they delve deeply into the challenge and produce an impressive solution.

What if you have several good software designers at your disposal? The answer is to scale the operation, but how can this be achieved?

There are three good theses for this: clarity, trust, and movement.

Clarity means that people understand what is being done and why. Without it, speed doesn’t help; it can even make things worse. Goals and vision are continuously visible and articulated concretely enough that everyone can make decisions based on them.

Then perhaps the most important thing is trust . Without trust, scaling cannot succeed. You can’t manage everything yourself, not even in a small team, and especially not in the AI era, where the pace keeps increasing. You have to trust that everyone will make sensible decisions, sometimes alone and sometimes together.

Last is movement. You can’t optimize everything in advance. Many decisions must be made quickly and the direction can be adjusted later. From experience, I feel that the first intuition is often right enough, as long as you know your own playing field. This observation is also supported by several studies. Up to 90% of decisions based on intuition turn out right, as long as you are familiar with your playing field. Do other team members know theirs as well?

Competitive advantage comes from teams that work well together

New technology provides an entirely new opportunity to scale. But how well it ultimately succeeds depends on people.

That’s why you could say that even in the AI era, the most important competitive advantage is still not technology. Competitive advantage derives from us as people and the opportunities we are given.

At Alma Media, we develop AI-based software development with the understanding that success is still achieved best in well-functioning teams, where every individual has their own significant role.

The author is the Head of Digital Development for Alma Marketplaces segment, Simo Syrjänen. He got his first software job through a trainee program at another company years ago. According to him, the best things at Alma are the professional colleagues and fantastic products.

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