Heroes mask a system's weaknesses. When they're gone, things collapse. AI agents are the new heroes, flooding teams with output. But a healthy system doesn't need heroes. It needs balance.
Many teams have one. The hero. The person who stays late, works weekends, knows every corner of the codebase, and somehow holds everything together. Management loves them. Colleagues rely on them. But having a hero in your team is not a good sign. It's a symptom. Now, AI coding agents are stepping into that role. And nobody seems to notice the pattern repeating.
