Is Your Job Being Unbundled?
Jul 21, 2025
You’ve probably heard the buzzwords: AI, automation, optimization, scale. But here’s a more personal question: Is your job being unbundled?
In our latest podcast episode, we explore what it means when tasks that used to be part of your role—like grading, advising, or even course design—are now being handled by someone else or by a system. It’s happening across higher education, from faculty roles to support staff, instructional design teams, and even administration.
This process, known as unbundling, isn't always about elimination—it’s about disaggregation. Roles that were once holistic and personal are becoming more modular, distributed across teams or tools. Some of this shift is practical. But some of it raises tough questions.
What parts of your work are uniquely human? What do students or colleagues value most about how you show up? What pieces could be automated—and which ones shouldn’t be?
As Vernon Smith shares in the episode, unbundling is here to stay. But leaders who understand the pattern can adapt proactively. They can double down on the parts of their work that matter most and find ways to collaborate more effectively with the systems and specialists around them.
So ask yourself: Where is your value in the bundle? And what will you choose to keep in your hands?
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