Flash Teams: Leading the Future of AI-Enhanced, On-Demand Work
By (Author) Melissa Valentine
By (author) Michael Bernstein
MIT Press Ltd
MIT Press
18th November 2025
United States
General
Non Fiction
Hardback
240
Width 152mm, Height 229mm
A dramatic new future of work in which managers assemble exactly the expertise they need-within minutes. A dramatic new future of work in which managers assemble exactly the expertise they need-within minutes. Gone are the days of static organizational charts and staffing based on the manager's rolodex and intuition. Now you can recruit any expertise you need from a global online network within minutes- an on-demand, on-the-spot expert at the exact moment that you need their help. You can right-size their involvement- some of those experts give a second-opinion or a moment of brainstorming, while others join as full-fledged team members for a sustained collaborative effort. This is the future promised by Flash Teams, a model that The New York Times has already praised for its "revolutionary potential"- a world where experts are available anytime and everywhere, where remote work has become a norm, and where AI is in the loop to guide team decisions. In Flash Teams, award-winning management scholar Melissa Valentine and computer scientist Michael Bernstein chart the opportunities of flash teams and navigate the challenges that teams and managers will face. They distill lessons from their own work assembling and managing flash teams on demand that every manager can learn from so they can successfully use flash teams in their own organizations. Drawing on original research and industry examples, this book will help readers to- . Recognize and source needed expertise within minutes . Anticipate and plan team designs with AI . Redesign team structures on the fly as projects evolve Industries are already being transformed by this new approach to teaming. Flash Teams arms leaders, managers, and entrepreneurs with the tools they need to accomplish their goals with confidence, speed, and agility.
Michael S. Bernstein is Associate Professor of Computer Science at Stanford University, where he is a Bass University Fellow. His research has been reported in venues such as The New York Times, Wired, Science, and Nature, and he has been recognized with an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship, UIST Lasting Impact Award, and the Computer History Museum's Patrick J. McGovern Tech for Humanity Prize. Melissa Valentine is Associate Professor of Management Science at Stanford University, where she codirects the Center for Work, Technology, and Organization. She has been awarded an NSF CAREER award, and her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Wired, Fast Company, and Financial Times.