"AI Does the Coding, Humans Only Design"… Park Jong-cheon, CAIO of JiranJigyo Soft, Explains the 7 Stages of AX

The era of 'AI Transformation (AX, AI Transformation)' has arrived, where artificial intelligence (AI) goes beyond being a simple tool to changing the very way companies work. While past software development methods involved writing code directly based on requirements, the era is now transforming into one where results are produced using only intent and design documents.

According to a T Times TV video, Park Jong-cheon, CAIO (Chief AI Officer) of JiranJigyo Soft, explained the AX bottlenecks currently faced by companies and the new development paradigm, 'VDLC'. Park CAIO diagnosed that AX in the development profession is currently the most advanced, and we have entered the era of 'Vibe Coding', where developers no longer look at code directly but simply deliver intent and design documents, and AI performs the development.

The Era of 'VDLC' Designing Instead of Coding... New 'Communication' Debt Arises

The traditional Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) goes through the processes of requirement establishment, design, development, testing, and release. However, Park CAIO emphasized that we have recently moved into the era of 'VDLC (Vibe Development Life Cycle)', which replaces this. The core of VDLC is not the resulting 'code', but managing the 'Intent' and 'Spec' documents to be delivered to the AI. He explained, "In the past, we tried to manage code very well, but now code is just an output," adding, "What needs to be managed is the intent document."

Park CAIO cited 'cognitive debt' and 'communication debt' as side effects brought about by this change. He stated that 'cognitive debt', which occurs because humans cannot perfectly understand the generation process since AI generates the code, and 'communication debt', where conversations between human colleagues decrease due to immersion in working with AI, are emerging as practical problems. He explained, "Humans don't listen, but AI listens well," and noted that if one focuses only on working with AI, the ability to communicate between humans may decline, making its management a task for companies.

In fact, Park CAIO is applying this to the new developer recruitment process at JiranJigyo Soft. Instead of a coding test, they assign a task to create an 'Office Agent' using Vibe Coding within a week, and the evaluation of the result is conducted through an automated program using an LLM (Large Language Model) rather than a person. In the video, he revealed the specific process for this evaluation, stating, "The LLM writes about 10 pages of reports for each category," and "The method is to conduct reviews using two top models, and if even one of them exceeds 80 points, the candidate passes."

"Document Work is AI's Job"... Beyond Individual Productivity to Organizational Productivity

The spread of AX is not limited to the development profession. Park CAIO argued that even in general professions, the paradigm of document work should be changed using tools like 'Claude Code'. Unlike 'Claude Chat', which is simply for asking things one is curious about, he analyzed that if 'Claude Code' is used to train on a company's existing knowledge and proposals to extract results, the era of humans directly creating PowerPoint or Microsoft Word documents is over. He emphasized, "If you use Claude Code, a task that takes 3 hours can be finished in 5 minutes," and "The era of humans directly creating documents has already ended."

He emphasized that it is already possible to generate documents with only data and instructions, saying, "I haven't personally made a slide for six months." However, he pointed out that even if an individual's AI utilization ability increases, it does not immediately lead to an increase in organizational productivity. While big tech companies like Amazon have all systems linked to AI and operating organically, most companies lack connectivity between systems, preventing individual productivity from spreading to the entire organization's performance. Park CAIO diagnosed, "When an issue arises, big techs open multiple AI sessions simultaneously and issue instructions so that one person can handle the work of hundreds," and that a battle is being fought to quickly graft AI onto existing solutions (SaaS) or to directly build custom enterprise systems.

The 'Step 0' for Successful AX... CEO's Will and Dedicated Organization are Essential

Park CAIO defined the most important initial stage as 'Step 0 (AX Readiness)' among the '7-step formula' required for a company to successfully complete AX. This is because AX is a 'matter of culture' before it is a matter of technology. He explained that when promoting AX, it is a priority to create an environment where members can perceive that "AI is not replacing me, but a tool working with me," rather than focusing on technical perfection.

The three core elements for successful AX preparation are as follows. First, the CEO's will. Without the strong driving force of management, AX cannot even begin. Second, a dedicated AX TF (Task Force) organization. There must be an organization dedicated to communication and coordination with each department to prevent confusion during the technology introduction process. Third, securing sufficient time. Sufficient physical time must be given so that members' minds can open and they can accept AI.

Park CAIO forecasted the patterns of AX introduction in companies by dividing them into three categories. He suggested the importance of systematic preparation and an approach through a dedicated organization, stating, "One-third of Korean companies will fall behind because they fail to undergo AI Transformation, and the remaining one-third will struggle and bleed due to a lack of experts while attempting to transform directly."