以后有价值的文章应该会分为两类。
一类是给 AI 看的, AI 进 AI 出,人类甚至都不需要知道它的存在。
另外一类是专门给人看的,不知道 AI 能不能独立完成,大概率还是需要手工创作,和现在的奢侈品类似。
剩下的就是最可怜的,让人看索然无味,给 AI 看也是磕磕绊绊的,属于食之无味,弃之完全不可惜的那种。
最近跟很多人聊起 Harness 是什么。用个相对通俗的比喻来说就是———
1️⃣大模型 LLM 像是商学院毕业的 MBA,一出来就当上 CEO,迎娶白富美,走上人生巅峰。熟练掌握各种管理学经典理论,但是实战经验欠缺。
2️⃣Harness就是这个 CEO 的秘书,帮助 CEO 整理信息和传达指令,CEO 看到什么是它告诉的,公司有什么资源是它在整理, CEO 的指示是什么也是它帮忙下达。
3️⃣而人类在这中间的角色就比较复杂了,既可以扮演董事长,通过这个秘书来监督和约束 CEO 的行为,在关键时刻弥补 CEO 实战经验欠缺的短板。
4️⃣也可以当员工躺平,被动接受秘书传达的老板一切指令,当然,也要接受事情有失控的可能。
https://t.co/yzr0d5OvDb
yes we over-hired during covid because i incorrectly built 2 separate company structures (square & cash app) rather than 1, which we corrected mid 2024. but this misses all the complexity we took on through lending, banking, and BNPL. and that we’re now targeting $2M+ gross profit per person, 4x our pre-covid efficiency, which stayed flat at ~$500k from 2019 until 2024. we have and do run an efficient company... better than most.
we're making @blocks smaller today. here's my note to the company.
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today we're making one of the hardest decisions in the history of our company: we're reducing our organization by nearly half, from over 10,000 people to just under 6,000. that means over 4,000 of you are being asked to leave or entering into consultation. i'll be straight about what's happening, why, and what it means for everyone.
first off, if you're one of the people affected, you'll receive your salary for 20 weeks + 1 week per year of tenure, equity vested through the end of may, 6 months of health care, your corporate devices, and $5,000 to put toward whatever you need to help you in this transition (if you’re outside the U.S. you’ll receive similar support but exact details are going to vary based on local requirements). i want you to know that before anything else. everyone will be notified today, whether you're being asked to leave, entering consultation, or asked to stay.
we're not making this decision because we're in trouble. our business is strong. gross profit continues to grow, we continue to serve more and more customers, and profitability is improving. but something has changed. we're already seeing that the intelligence tools we’re creating and using, paired with smaller and flatter teams, are enabling a new way of working which fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company. and that's accelerating rapidly.
i had two options: cut gradually over months or years as this shift plays out, or be honest about where we are and act on it now. i chose the latter. repeated rounds of cuts are destructive to morale, to focus, and to the trust that customers and shareholders place in our ability to lead. i'd rather take a hard, clear action now and build from a position we believe in than manage a slow reduction of people toward the same outcome. a smaller company also gives us the space to grow our business the right way, on our own terms, instead of constantly reacting to market pressures.
a decision at this scale carries risk. but so does standing still. we've done a full review to determine the roles and people we require to reliably grow the business from here, and we've pressure-tested those decisions from multiple angles. i accept that we may have gotten some of them wrong, and we've built in flexibility to account for that, and do the right thing for our customers.
we're not going to just disappear people from slack and email and pretend they were never here. communication channels will stay open through thursday evening (pacific) so everyone can say goodbye properly, and share whatever you wish. i'll also be hosting a live video session to thank everyone at 3:35pm pacific. i know doing it this way might feel awkward. i'd rather it feel awkward and human than efficient and cold.
to those of you leaving…i’m grateful for you, and i’m sorry to put you through this. you built what this company is today. that's a fact that i'll honor forever. this decision is not a reflection of what you contributed. you will be a great contributor to any organization going forward.
to those staying…i made this decision, and i'll own it. what i'm asking of you is to build with me. we're going to build this company with intelligence at the core of everything we do. how we work, how we create, how we serve our customers. our customers will feel this shift too, and we're going to help them navigate it: towards a future where they can build their own features directly, composed of our capabilities and served through our interfaces. that's what i'm focused on now. expect a note from me tomorrow.
jack