---
id: "quote-managing-agents"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["00:04:33"]
tags: ["management", "agent-behavior"]
related: ["concept-engineering-manager-mindset"]
speakers: ["Nate B. Jones"]
quote: "You're managing agents. They are tireless, they are prone to confident incorrectness, you have to have a different discipline."
sources: ["s25-builders-identity-shift"]
sourceVaultSlug: "s25-builders-identity-shift"
originDay: 25
---
# Managing Tireless Agents

> You're managing agents. They are tireless, they are prone to confident incorrectness, you have to have a different discipline.

— [[entity-nate-b-jones]] (04:33)

## Context
A succinct description of the reality of the new Engineering Manager role when dealing with AI agents.

## Three Properties of Agents Encoded in This Quote
1. **Tireless** — they don't burn out, so traditional throughput intuitions break
2. **Confidently incorrect** — they fail in ways that look like success
3. **Require a different discipline** — old IC habits don't transfer cleanly

## Connected Concept
[[concept-engineering-manager-mindset]] — the full operationalization of the discipline this quote demands.