AI Boss - Book Structure

This document describes the logical structure of AI Boss, Book 7 of The Architecture as Code Series. The book is organised into seven parts with 33 numbered chapters, moving from the question through the AI boss as it exists today, what it does to people, managing machines and Europe's legal answer to the design of an accountable AI boss and a verdict drawn from experience, followed by the glossary, two appendices, the references and a note about the author. Five management functions run through every chapter: M1 Direction, M2 Evaluation, M3 Consequence, M4 Development and M5 Care. Degrees of delegation reuse the series' autonomy levels, Level 0 Advisory to Level 4 Autonomous, per function, and Level 4 Autonomous is never used for M3 Consequence. The book builds on the conclusions of Architecture as Code, AI Governance, AI Platform and Security, AI Red Team, AI Threat and The Transformed Security Architect, recorded in SERIES_FOUNDATIONS.md.

Table of contents

Part I: The Question (Chapters 1–4)

What a manager does, a century of managing by measurement, and the AI boss defined by management functions, degrees of delegation and accountability (defines M1 Direction to M5 Care)

Part II: The AI Boss Today (Chapters 5–10)

Where the AI boss already works: platforms, warehouses, hiring, performance and dismissal, scheduling and pay, and the office (mainly M1 Direction, M2 Evaluation and M3 Consequence)

Part III: What It Does to People (Chapters 11–15)

Autonomy, fairness, surveillance, health and productivity under algorithmic management, each as a constructive debate with a verdict (all five functions, M5 Care most of all)

Part IV: Managing Machines (Chapters 16–20)

The "agent boss", orchestrators, mixed teams of people and agents, who becomes a manager, and decision rights along the management chain (M1 Direction and M2 Evaluation applied to agents, M4 Development for managers)

Part V: Europe's Answer (Chapters 21–24)

The AI Act at work, data protection and the Platform Work Directive, co-determination, occupational safety, equality law and the public authority as employer (all five functions, M3 Consequence most of all)

Part VI: Designing the Accountable AI Boss (Chapters 25–29)

Management Decision Records and the delegation register, real oversight, contestability, transparency to the managed, and the transformed manager (all five functions)

Part VII: Experience and Verdict (Chapters 30–33)

A year with the AI boss at the two organisations, case studies and anti-patterns, conclusions for each organisation, and the book's verdict

Appendices and Reference

Glossary, Appendix A (code examples: management decision, delegation and oversight artefacts), Appendix B (templates and tools), references and about the author

Chapter structure

Part I: The Question

The part is introduced by part_i_the_question.md.

Chapter	File	Title	Description
1	01_introduction.md	Introduction: Who Is the Boss?	State the question and the thesis, what would refute it, the five management functions in brief, the two organisations and how the book builds on Books 1–6
2	02_what_a_manager_does.md	What a Manager Does: Five Management Functions and Who Performs Them	Define the five management functions, M1 Direction to M5 Care, and show that a manager's job is a bundle of them that can be separated and delegated one by one; the frame chapter
3	03_from_taylor_to_the_algorithm.md	From Scientific Management to Algorithmic Management: A Century of Managing by Measurement	Trace managing by measurement from scientific management through call-centre metrics to platform dispatch, and separate what is new about the AI boss from old arguments
4	04_the_ai_boss_defined.md	The AI Boss Defined: Management Functions, Degrees of Delegation and Accountability	Join the management functions to the degrees of delegation and the usage modes, define the AI boss and state the rule that Level 4 Autonomous is never used for M3 Consequence

Part II: The AI Boss Today

The part is introduced by part_ii_the_ai_boss_today.md.

Chapter	File	Title	Description
5	05_platform_work.md	Platform Work: The Algorithm as Dispatcher	Examine dispatch, pricing, ratings and deactivation on platforms, the court cases and the Platform Work Directive
6	06_warehouse_and_shop_floor.md	The Warehouse and the Shop Floor: Pace, Rate and Monitoring	Examine rate targets, time-off-task measurement and automated warnings in logistics and manufacturing, and the inspection responses
7	07_hiring_by_machine.md	Hiring by Machine: Screening, Scoring and Automated Interviews	Examine CV screening, assessments and automated interviews, the evidence on bias, and the line between ranking and rejecting
8	08_performance_and_dismissal.md	Performance Scores, Productivity Metrics and Dismissal by Algorithm	Examine how scores become ratings, warnings and terminations, and where the human decider disappears
9	09_scheduling_pay_and_allocation.md	Scheduling, Pay and the Allocation of Work	Examine rostering, dynamic pay and the allocation of tasks and hours, including health and social care
10	10_the_ai_manager_in_the_office.md	Knowledge Work: The AI Manager Enters the Office	Examine office assistants and agents that assign tasks, summarise contributions and report on colleagues, and the claims-triage agent that allocates work to people

Part III: What It Does to People

The part is introduced by part_iii_what_it_does_to_people.md.

Chapter	File	Title	Description
11	11_autonomy_dignity_control.md	Autonomy, Dignity and Control: Being Managed by a Machine	Debate what being directed by a system does to discretion, meaning and respect at work, with a verdict
12	12_fairness_bias_and_contestability.md	Fairness, Bias and the Appeal That Never Comes	Debate discrimination in scoring and allocation, the comparison with human managers, and the missing appeal, with a verdict
13	13_surveillance_at_work.md	Surveillance at Work and the Chilling Effect	Debate what workplace monitoring measures and infers, its effect on voice, and the prohibition of emotion recognition, with a verdict
14	14_health_pace_and_burnout.md	Health, Pace and Burnout: Occupational Safety Under Algorithmic Direction	Debate the evidence on injury, stress and burnout under algorithmic pace and the employer's duty of care, with a verdict
15	15_does_it_work.md	Does It Work? Productivity, Quality and the Evidence for Algorithmic Management	Debate the evidence that algorithmic management delivers productivity and quality over quarters and years, and what it means for the thesis

Part IV: Managing Machines

The part is introduced by part_iv_managing_machines.md.

Chapter	File	Title	Description
16	16_the_agent_boss.md	The Agent Boss: When the Team Is Software	Describe what a person does when the team is software, introduce the mandate manifest for agents a manager directs, and show which management functions transfer
17	17_orchestrators.md	Orchestrators: AI Managing AI Agents and the Chain of Accountability	Trace the chain of accountability when orchestrator agents assign work to other agents, and record where it ends
18	18_the_mixed_team.md	The Mixed Team: People and Agents Under the Same Manager	Manage people and agents in the same team: fair allocation, evaluation of entangled output and the manager's duties
19	19_who_becomes_a_manager.md	Skill, Judgement and Who Becomes a Manager When AI Does the Managing	Keep a route into management when junior management work is automated, and keep managers' judgement about people
20	20_decision_rights_in_the_management_chain.md	Decision Rights in the Management Chain: Who May Direct, Evaluate, Reward and Dismiss	Write decision rights for direction, evaluation, reward and dismissal along a chain of people, agents and orchestrators

Part V: Europe's Answer

The part is introduced by part_v_europes_answer.md.

Chapter	File	Title	Description
21	21_the_ai_act_at_work.md	The AI Act at Work: Annex III Point 4, Prohibited Practices and the Deployer's Duties	Set out the AI Act's requirements for employers that deploy systems that manage people: Annex III point 4, Article 5(1)(f), Articles 26, 27 and 86
22	22_data_protection_and_platform_work_directive.md	Data Protection and the Platform Work Directive: The Right to a Human Decision	Examine GDPR Articles 22 and 88, case law on automated decisions at work, and the Platform Work Directive's rules on algorithmic management
23	23_co_determination.md	Co-determination: Works Councils, Unions and the Nordic Model Meet the Algorithm	Apply co-determination under German, Swedish and other national law, works agreements and collective agreements to systems that change continuously
24	24_safety_equality_and_public_employers.md	Occupational Safety, Equality Law and the Public Authority as Employer	Apply occupational safety and equality law to algorithmic management, and set out the duties of a public authority that procures the AI boss

Part VI: Designing the Accountable AI Boss

The part is introduced by part_vi_designing_the_accountable_ai_boss.md.

Chapter	File	Title	Description
25	25_management_decisions_as_records.md	Management Decisions as Records: Decision Records and the Delegation Register	Introduce the Management Decision Record and the delegation register of management functions with delegation profiles
26	26_the_human_in_the_chair.md	The Human in the Chair: Oversight That Is Real, Not Rubber-Stamped	Design human oversight that survives volume and automation bias, with the oversight record and the oversight-quality metric
27	27_contestability_by_design.md	Contestability by Design: Explanation, Appeal and Correction	Design explanation, appeal and correction, with the contestation record and the path from a worker's challenge back to the data and the system
28	28_transparency_to_the_managed.md	Transparency to the Managed: What Workers Are Told, When and by Whom	Design the worker information notice and the transparency register to serve the AI Act, the GDPR, the Platform Work Directive and co-determination at once
29	29_the_transformed_manager.md	The Transformed Manager: Leading People When AI Directs the Work	Describe the line manager's role when AI directs the work, with the author's own projection labelled

Part VII: Experience and Verdict

The part is introduced by part_vii_experience_and_verdict.md.

Chapter	File	Title	Description
30	30_a_year_with_the_ai_boss.md	A Year With the AI Boss: Nordvik Region and Hansa Mutual	Follow four people at the two organisations through a year with the AI boss, quarter by quarter, with the records they produced
31	31_case_studies_and_anti_patterns.md	Case Studies and Anti-Patterns	Present documented cases from platforms, warehouses, hiring and public administration and the anti-patterns that recur, each with its remedy
32	32_conclusions_for_nordvik_and_hansa.md	Nordvik Region and Hansa Mutual: Conclusions for Two Organisations	Answer the commission AIDR-0600 and the request AIDR-0650 with a conclusion, a delegation profile per function and a plan for each organisation
33	33_conclusion.md	Conclusions: Who Should Be the Boss?	Judge the thesis, settle or leave open the open questions Q1 to Q12, and give the author's verdict on who should be the boss in 2036

Appendices and Reference

The appendices are introduced by part_appendices.md.

Item	File	Title	Description
Glossary	34_glossary.md	Glossary	Defines the vocabulary of the book: the five management functions, degrees of delegation, the book's artefacts, labour-law and co-determination terms and European regulation.
Appendix A	35_appendix_a_code_examples.md	Appendix A: Code Examples: Management Decision, Delegation and Oversight Artefacts	Fuller versions of the artefacts introduced in the chapters: a Management Decision Record, the delegation register with delegation profiles, an oversight record and the oversight-quality metric, a contestation record, a worker information notice and a mandate manifest.
Appendix B	appendix_templates_and_tools.md	Appendix B: Templates and Tools	A directory of the templates and tools the chapters provide, with the chapter that introduces each.
References	36_references.md	References and Sources	Canonical bibliography
About the Author	37_about_the_author.md	About the Author	Background and perspective

Companion files

File	Purpose
BOOK_BLUEPRINT.md	Premise, thesis, audience, the brief of every chapter, the foundations it builds on, the management functions it concerns and its status
SERIES_FOUNDATIONS.md	The conclusions of Books 1–6 that this book builds on, with the tables of contents of the earlier volumes for cross-references
EXAMPLE_ORGANISATIONS.md	Canonical profiles of Nordvik Region and Hansa Mutual, including their people-management profiles
CHAPTER_AUTHORING_GUIDE.md, STYLE_GUIDE.md, AUTHOR_PERSONA.md	Rules for structure, language and voice

Canonical ordering

scripts/toc_definition.py holds the table of contents and regenerates docs/book_index.json, the mkdocs.yml navigation and the chapter list in BOOK_REQUIREMENTS.md. docs/book_index.json and mkdocs.yml must agree; tests/test_book_index.py enforces that they do.