We Are Here

This post is different than my other posts. I’ve found myself trying to write down all of the thoughts I’ve had about what AI is doing, particularly for how we build software. So much has changed and things are moving so fast yet it almost feels like there’s no time to even reflect on it all. And there are so many angles to take and perspectives to have. Meanwhile, things are changing so fast that even those perspectives shift rapidly. So this is my attempt to just get some words down. Not in a narrative forum or with a story or really any coherency, but just a list of thoughts I’ve been having and experiences I’ve been having as it relates to building software.

So why am I writing this down? Partly as a means of reflection. Partly as a way for people who are also thinking about this to feel seen. I don’t think there’s any particular reason or need to feel seen, but just acknowledging that I think there are more and more people who are having these types of thoughts about software, some of which are thrilling and some of which are discomforting. And I’m writing mine down. It’s also for folks who might not have had the time to explore these tools or understand just where we are at. If you read the following and you’re writing software and this all feels just very alien to you, I think it’s worth your time to explore - and I think there is an urgency to explore. My candid advice is that you need to do it now actually.

None of this is meant as a brag or anything of that nature. I’m just stating things as they are happening to me and what I’m seeing. Like the title says: We Are Here.

If you distill it all down to the core essence, It’s that things have changed in software so dramatically over the last six months that it’s truly a completely different thing. If you would have showed me this list three years ago, it would have been completely incomprehensible. I would have told you that there’s no way that these things are true.

So here’s the list and I’m not going to use AI to modify this or to make it sound better. Or anything like that. These are the raw notes.

• I have not written a single line of code myself for at least the past four months. Zero.
• I am the most productive I have ever been in my career. And I’m astounded by what I can accomplish on an almost daily basis.
• I’ve never had more fun building.
• My productivity in terms of what I can build has likely 10x’ed compared to two years ago.
• Some things I can build in minutes, where it literally would have taken hours or days before.
• I’ve never felt busier with work, but most of the times that aspect is energizing. I actually have a hard time putting it down, which is a feeling I haven’t had in a number of years. The last time I felt like this was probably when iOS came out and you could build iPhone apps in the late 2000s.
• I rarely use my keyboard anymore, particularly at my home office. It’s just me speaking to my computer using Mac Whisper.
• I find myself reading code less and less. Yes, I am still reading it and I’m not just vibe coding, but I’m finding other ways to ensure the system works as expected without reading all the details. There’s never been a better time to have these tools and still know what good looks like from previous experience.
• I am building software that self-updates. Meaning that it emits information as it runs, and then is able to look at that information after it runs to make improvements to itself.
• I often run “pre-determined commands” (e.g. skills or slash commands) that accomplish ‘operational’ work which would have two years ago, taken me several hours.
• I can multi-task on extremely complex projects in disparate areas without feeling overwhelmed. In fact, sometimes this feels almost necessary with how tools like Claude Code and planning mode work. It’s like the code compiling days all over again.
• I can record myself on a run talking through something I want to do, whether it be a document I want to produce or even a large code change that I want to make. When I get back to my desk, I can use this transcript with a predetermined command. And it almost always is able to one-shot the changes correctly or get very close.
• I spend a lot of my time answering questions that an AI asks me. In fact, one of the most valuable ways to make sure these tools produce what I want them to produce is to allow them to ask me questions exhaustively.
• The tools feel like a superpower now. And they continue to get rapidly better. There are truly step changes that have happened in the last couple months, and there is no sign that this is going to stop.
• I am still surprised by software engineers who don’t see it or who don’t get it who are not doing it. I’m obviously deep in the rabbit hole, but it is so incredibly obvious to me that things have changed forever. Classical software engineering is over.
• There is still an immense need for software engineering talent and specifically systems thinking. There’s never been a better time to apply systems thinking than right now. It feels like a cheat code to have been able to build software classically for the last 20 years and then be able to use these tools now.
• There are still lots of quirks with how to use these tools. Many of the people in this space that I have high regard for are using the tools similarly - but there’s still a a lot of differentiation. The only way to figure this out is to get your hands dirty and do the thing.
• I’m finding myself to be more reliant on AI to do specific things, and less reliant on it to do other things over time. As a specific example, planning mode is absolutely critical now for these tools, and I will spend a ton of time thinking through the plans and trying to build the plans without AI to help me as I first cut. Because that first step that the model takes and the direction it starts heading is enormously important. So it’s worth the time to think critically here.
• So many things in this industry have changed so rapidly, particularly over the last six months. I intellectually believe it’s only going to accelerate but I still don’t fully think I’ve internalized what that means.
• I have no idea where this is all going and definitely have my stretches of anxiety about it all. But I am here for it and I’m going to lean into it and I’m going to try to help others that want to do that too.

One more that’s useful to add – and this is the thing that I struggle with the most. I actually feel more and more behind every day. I know I am not, but honestly that is how fast things are moving – and it’s only getting faster.