"The Structure of Engineering Revolutions" by @johnallsopp https://webdirections.org/blog/the-structure-of-engineering-revolutions/
I feel like I've been waiting half a year for someone to write this essay. This makes more sense out of everything I've been reading, thinking, and feeling for the past few months than just about anything else I've read.
> This isn’t a lower standard. It’s a different standard.
How can you not see it as a lower standard? The standards of software quality were already plummeting before AI; I can't help but feel that the rise of AI-generated code is flooring the accelerator. I want more lovingly crafted apps like Pinafore, not more React monstrosities where a single page payload is bigger than Doom (as noted by @slightlyoff in his latest performance inequality gap post).
> The adoption is grassroots–developers dragging their organisations along, not the other way around.
This claim surprises me, because we've all heard of top-down mandates, like the infamous Shopify AI memo. It seems to me that top-down mandates are what many of us are afraid of, like Larry Garfield's "Selfish AI" post (https://www.garfieldtech.com/blog/selfish-ai) where he's afraid that he'll have to use the products, over his strong ethical objections, just to have a job.
@matt Speaking for myself, I am afraid. I am not even sure that adopting these tools today means that I won't be out of a job in 5 years.
I am being a bit paternalistic, though, because I find that a lot of people do seem to be in a state of willful ignorance. I was too up to like a year ago. https://nolanlawson.com/2026/02/15/days-of-miracle-and-wonder/
@matt I'm also getting a bit tired of these conversations, because I feel a bit like Kent Brockman with the ants, except the ants are real, and the only satisfaction I get from saying "Well guys, looks like we better accept these new ant overlords" is that a few years from now we'll be toiling in the mines and someone will turn to me and say, "Boy, you were sure right about those ants!" https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/i-for-one-welcome-our-new-insect-overlords
(To be clear: not tired of talking with you, Matt. 🙂)
Nolan Lawson
Matt Campbell
