Workerbee Working Papers
Original thinking on AI, enterprise software, and how organizations will adapt to a world where people and AI agents work together.
We publish Working Papers to explore ideas before they become products, standards, or accepted best practices.
These papers aren’t intended to provide all the answers.
They’re intended to start conversations.
WORKING PAPER 1.0
WHO—OR WHAT—SHOULD DO THE WORK?
AI is forcing leaders to decide what work their strategy requires—and what should remain human, become agent-assisted, or be automated. Most organizations lack the understanding to make those decisions well.
Introduce yourself below to access the full PDF.
A Note from Heiko
Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with executives, HR leaders, software companies, AI researchers, investors, educators, and technology partners trying to answer the same fundamental question:
How do organizations prepare for a world where AI becomes part of the workforce?
The more conversations I had, the more I realized the industry was focused on the wrong problem.
We talk about AI models.
We talk about agents.
We talk about automation.
But very little attention is being paid to the one thing all of those technologies require:
A shared understanding of how work creates value.
That’s why I wrote this paper.
It’s not intended to be the final word.
It’s simply the clearest way I know how to explain the problem we’re trying to solve—and why I believe it matters.
If you agree, disagree, or simply have a different perspective, I’d genuinely like to hear it.
This conversation is just getting started.
— Heiko
