Orchestrators
"The most important thing is to have smart people. As technology becomes more generic and less expensive, the leverage point becomes the people." - Mark Zuckerberg
As AI eats the repetitive layers of work and open source commoditizes the once-proprietary, the leverage point in tech shifts to those who become good orchestrators. The ones who know how to make autonomous systems, humans, and data flows work together as a coherent organism.
Complex systems have always demanded coordination, whether in human societies, logistics networks, or financial markets. In the AI era, that complexity compounds, and the ability to orchestrate multi-layered, interdependent systems becomes a critical skill.
What is an orchestrator?
An orchestrator is the entity (human or software) that ensures all the moving parts of a process work together in the right sequence, at the right time, and under the right conditions.
The term shows up in different domains, and the meaning adapts slightly:
- In music: Arranges and coordinates musical parts for all instruments so they play in harmony.
- In business: Coordinates teams, timelines, and resources to deliver a project without bottlenecks.
- In computing: Manages deployment, scaling, and operation of multiple services or tasks (e.g., Kubernetes orchestrates containers).
- In agentic systems: Coordinates multiple AI agents and tools, deciding which agent does what, when, and how they pass information to each other.
So, in essence, an orchestrator doesn't do all the work. An orchestrator ensures that all the work happens in the right order, efficiently, and with minimal friction. And this is what I am seeing more and more with the rise of new AI tooling and agents.
Why orchestrators?
In the AI era, small teams are building and shipping at unprecedented speed. AI agents sit at the heart of this shift, transforming both business models and job functions.
AI agents are modular but interdependent. They work best when plugged into an orchestration layer that routes context and constraints, not just data.
Protocols and APIs proliferate, orchestrators decide which system to call, when, and under what risk assumptions. Market, social, and regulatory feedback loops accelerate, orchestration is about staying in the pocket while variables shift mid-flight.
The next leverage point is about ensuring that the work done by machines and people alike composes into something coherent, safe, and adaptive. The orchestrators will be the ones holding the score.