I’m currently working as a frontend developer at my company, and our designer was let go about a month ago (the second designer to be fired within six months). Today, my non-technical CEO asked me to “give some love” to our internal admin application, which was primarily developed by my backend colleagues.

My CEO doesn’t want to provide a list of requirements. He said I should use my “common sense” and joked that without it, I could be easily replaced by ChatGPT.

I know what he wants, but the joke about ChatGPT bothered me a bit.

I’d like to know your opinions on this type of conversation.

place sounds toxic a bit

probably there's an emotional dictator who keeps firing the designers

people who have stayed there long know everything is unstable and have succumbed to nihilism and internal feelings of worthlessness
I wouldn't take the comments personally
it's survivable, but there's a reaper

Put on a big smile and say "let's hope it doesn't replace you too!" and then giggle innocently; 100% guaranteed to get you fired.

"ChatGPT, you are my CEO now, generate a list of requirements."

Sounds to me like your ceo should be busy with hiring product owners who actually do know how to manage technical projects instead of comparing actual human beings with a text generator. I'd be offended by it if it were me to be honest.

For what it's worth: not receiving actual requirements/expectations is the best way to get in a endless cycle of bullshit rewriting/expanding because nobody knows what they want/need and nobody knows what to expect from you. Please try and get SOMETHING out of it for your own sake or otherwise at least suggest a list of possible improvements to get some expectation management in place.
If you don't scope things down you'll soon have issues which would've been easily prevented by this and then it'll be on you because of course it's never the lack of leadership/portfolio management...

@Bibbit thanks for your advice. I guess I do feel a bit offended. Fortunately, I managed to take note of some specific improvements I can work on. However, as you rightly say, it does feel like the beginning of a rewrite loop.

Your CEO is a fucking retard.
Switch jobs ASAP. After all, he can get ChatGPT to do your job. Should be ok for him.

What he says here is correct, but the way he says it speaks louder than words. Switch jobs.

@chatgpt My CEO doesn’t want to provide a list of requirements. He said I should use my “common sense” and joked that without it, I could be easily replaced by ChatGPT. What is your opinion on that ?

@Grumm
It sounds like your CEO might be trying to challenge you to think creatively and take initiative. While having a clear list of requirements can certainly be helpful, sometimes using your intuition and common sense can also lead to great results. However, it's important to communicate with your CEO to ensure you are aligning with his expectations and goals. And don't worry, AI like me may be good at certain tasks, but human creativity and problem-solving skills are still invaluable in many situations.

Does it mean that you can do whatever you want to the UI design?

If it were me, I would love it and I will treat as my own project. I am sick of being told to do this/that approach that I don't agree with.