Writing · Dispatches

AI Leadership

How engineering leaders and teams apply AI to delivery with standards, judgment, and clear accountability.

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№ 061 Aug 2026

In Defense of AI-Generated Writing

AI-generated writing can be worth publishing when the person whose name is on it owns the premise, evidence, judgment, and responsibility. One-shot vibe-writing is something else entirely.

AI WritingEditorial ProcessHuman in the LoopAI Standards
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№ 060 Aug 2026

Should We Build This Has No Test Suite

AI can plan, build, test, and review software. None of those capabilities can prove that the objective deserved the investment.

AI StrategyDecision-MakingOrganizational Intelligence
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№ 059 Jul 2026

Good AI Management Is Just Good Management

Agent loops and spec-driven development give AI workers what good managers give junior developers: the right context, delivered at the right time, inside clear boundaries.

AI CodingAgent LoopsSpec-Driven DevelopmentAI Standards
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№ 047 Jun 2026

The Loop Is the Easy Part

Everyone is hyping agent loops. The loop was never the hard part. A fighter pilot figured that out half a century ago, long before the rest of us typed a prompt.

AI CodingAgent LoopsDecision-Making
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№ 035 Jun 2026

Effectiveness = Management × Contribution²

AI is collapsing the timeline on strategic initiatives. Work that used to take months of mapping and planning now takes days. That collapse changes the math of who should be building.

AI LeverageManagementContribution
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№ 030 May 2026

How to Set Agentic Coding Standards Across Multiple Teams

One dev uses Claude, another uses Copilot, a third uses Cursor. They're all generating code in your codebase. Without shared standards, you don't have standards.

AI StandardsGovernanceMulti-team
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№ 029 May 2026

Your Org Needs an Internal AI Skills Marketplace

AI skills are distributed software with privileged access. Treat them like part of your supply chain, not random files developers install from strangers.

AI ToolsGovernanceSkills
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№ 028 May 2026

Your AI Instructions File Should Be a Router, Not a Novel

Most teams dump everything into one massive AI instructions file and wonder why their agents ignore half of it. The fix is architecture, not more words.

AI StandardsModel ContextStandards Router
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№ 027 May 2026

Vibe Shipping Is the Real Problem

The generation method isn't the crisis. Giving up intentional control over what ships is.

AI ShippingOperating Model
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№ 024 May 2026

Give Your AI Agent a Map of Your Codebase (For Free, Locally)

Every AI coding session starts with your agent scanning the codebase to figure out what's going on. A code map eliminates that cold start entirely.

AI AgentsCode MapsLocal Tools
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№ 023 May 2026

The Three-Agent Playbook for Legacy Code Modernization

Legacy rewrites fail because business rules buried in old code get lost in translation. A three-agent pipeline extracts that knowledge before anything changes.

AI AgentsModernizationLegacy Code
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№ 021 Apr 2026

Vibe Coding Is Not a Strategy

AI can write code quickly, but engineers still own intent, architecture, standards, review, and the decision to ship.

AI CodingIntentStandards
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№ 019 Apr 2026

AI Doesn't Write Spaghetti Code. You Do.

AI can produce spaghetti code. It usually does so when the organization gives it no standards, no local context, and no meaningful way to check the work.

AI StandardsCode Quality
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№ 017 Apr 2026

Your Internal NuGet Packages Are an AI Blind Spot

AI coding tools know every public package cold. Yours? Brand new to them. Here's what happens when the AI guesses, and how to fix it.

Internal PackagesAI ContextDocumentation
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№ 016 Apr 2026

Your AI Can Write Code. It Still Needs Stories.

AI can generate features from a prompt. That's exactly why you need stories more than ever. Without them, you ship generic output and call it productivity.

AI CodingRequirementsStories
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№ 015 Apr 2026

The AI-Powered Requirements Pipeline That Makes Planning Faster

Four AI skills chained together that help a product owner turn feature ideas into developer-ready stories without starting from a blank page.

RequirementsProduct OwnershipAI Agents
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№ 010 Mar 2026

Engineering Leaders Have the Advantage in the Age of AI

Defining outcomes, reviewing output, managing feedback loops: the skills that make a great engineering leader are exactly what makes someone effective with AI.

AI AdoptionLeadership Leverage
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№ 007 Mar 2026

Your AI Code Quality Problem Is Actually a Standards Problem

Developers complaining about AI-generated slop are diagnosing the wrong problem. The code isn't bad because of AI. It's bad because of you.

AI StandardsCode Quality
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