Becoming a Shinobi in a Digital World

I just finished all 720 episodes of Naruto.
Here's how it illuminates the future of work and AI.

(Yes, that is me as a Shinobi wearing a VR headset).

In case you're unfamiliar, Naruto is a TV series about a bunch of Shinobi (Ninjas) with magic powers.
They channel their "Chakra" using different hand signs to pull off some wild abilities - abilities that vary from person to person.

Some use puppets. Others create clones of themselves. Some trap people in illusions. And some just throw fireballs.

Technique and Strategy

If you want to become a wicked ninja, the only things you need to do are work on your hand signs and then use them to out-think, out-class, and out-maneuver the enemy ninja.

The techniques are magical, but once learned, they quickly fade into the background as the real mind games take center stage.

They don't atrophy with time. They don't need supply chains or teams of people maintaining the techniques.
They're executed in a few seconds - and then the effect takes hold.

From Developer to Ninja

As a software dev, I was unfortunately not very close to being a ninja.
The software I use was developed by teams of people. My infrastructure demands maintenance. Even my ideas take hours or days to execute.

But something is changing in the software world. With the rise of agentic coding, the execution of ideas is being reduced 10-fold.

Very shortly, executing upon ideas will be as simple as throwing up hand signs.
Maintenance will become a thing of the past.

The Future of Work

And much like in Naruto, only two things will remain:

• Learning the techniques, learning the hand signs.
• And playing the bigger mind games.

Now, I'm 95% sure this won't devolve into software developers trying to shank each other with kunai.

But the tedious parts of execution will be gone, replaced with:

• A premium on strategic thinking.
• A premium on cross-functional skills.
• A premium on technical architecture.
• And a premium on imagination.

Unique Styles in a Complex World

I also believe that, just like Naruto, there will be too much to learn.
So, just like in Naruto, we'll all develop our own unique styles.

And who knows, with all the tech coming - with the brain chips, the robots, the exoskeletons, and AI -

Maybe life will look a little bit more like Naruto than the dying vestiges of the 2000s that we find ourselves in today.