Mastodawn

Elizabeth Ayer 20h ago

I'm a big fan of this explanation/rant from Andrew Murphy.

Taken as a whole, there are many bottlenecks in a corporate software development process. The "load-bearing" calendar is a great example!

Speeding up code creation just increases pressure on the bottleneck, which decreases throughput.

https://andrewmurphy.io/blog/if-you-thought-the-speed-of-writing-code-was-your-problem-you-have-bigger-problems

If you thought the speed of writing code was your problem - you have bigger problems | Debugging Leadership

AI coding tools are optimising the wrong thing and nobody wants to hear it. Writing code was already fast. The bottleneck is everything else: unclear requirements, review queues, terrified deploy cultures, and an org chart that needs six meetings to decide what colour the button should be.

Debugging Leadership

Elizabeth Ayer 20h ago

So why are we still trying to optimize code creation?

For decades, people with power - executives and product people - have been shifting the blame for strategy failures and poor market insight onto development "productivity."

This AI moment should be incredibly clarifying. Like, it should be the reductio ad absurdum of a productivity-centric approach.

Elias Probst 16h ago

The fact that we are *not* seeing wildly improving software all around us tells us everything we need to know.

There is no flourishing of value delivery, new product categories, more needs being satisfied better. It’s the opposite.

All we are seeing is decreases in quality, because 👏 code 👏 creation 👏 is not 👏 the problem.

Dualtronic 18h ago

@elizayer You gave me an idea: maybe it's because writing code is still seen as this mystical dark art that needs to be wrestled from the hands of those creepy wizards, pardon, programmers. A magic mirror on the wall that never says "you can't do that" is just the thing.

Elizabeth Ayer 18h ago

Exactly. EXACTLY! I think it's a direct response to the growth of mystical-feeling engineer power.

Aedius Filmania ⚙️🎮🖊️17h ago

The good news is :

Open source maintainers see an increase in the quality of AI security tools, it will soon be in the hands of the bad actors.

Then it will be mandatory to do good software and ( i will make the leap of faith that ) you have to understand the business needs to create a simple software that handle the issues.

Wil van Antwerpen 5h ago

@Aedius @elizayer there's just going to be less open source

Aedius Filmania ⚙️🎮🖊️4h ago

@wila @elizayer

All code is open source when you push it with a map file.

Wil van Antwerpen 4h ago

@Aedius @elizayer when it is javascript yes.
I wasn't talking about less slop.
There will be more of that.

Grassroots Joe 5m ago

30 years ago I taught Structured Systems Analysis and Design classes and consulted on client projects using the CASE (computer aided software engineering AKA data and process modeling software) tool I resold.

The core purpose was to ensure a joint correct understanding with the business of the requirements new or purchased software (components) needed to meet and designing clean and supportable software to implement those requirements.

You won't be shocked to learn ...
@elizayer

Grassroots Joe 3m ago

that upper management never caught on to the superior effectiveness and efficiency of building the correct solution the first time despite not a line of code getting written for many months.

I did a BPR project ( I didn't know it was a BPR project as the book hadn't been written yet) to migrate a smallish non-profit from a cranky and poorly designed mainframe system to client server.
We spent 9 months modeling the requirements and ...

Grassroots Joe 3m ago

system design.
It took us 2 months and change to code 90% of the requirements. Rolled it out and completely reorganized their workflow without a serious issue.
They ran on that Paradox for DOS system for many years and grew their business throughout without the need to expand their core staff while supplying greatly enhanced service to their customers.

They're still out there - https://www.cgfns.org/

Serving global nurses and allied healthcare workers with credentials evaluation and career mobility since 1977.

CGFNS International, Inc. has been the world's largest credentials evaluation organization for the nursing & allied health professions since 1977

CGFNS International, Inc.

Cap Ybarra 17h ago

@elizayer this has never been about quality and only about the business class trying to free themselves from those damned uppity engineers

Mike Roach 16h ago

@elizayer Exactly! I’ve been trying to explain to people, especially those pushing AI at work, that writing code is not the hard part of my job. Identifying the real-world problems and designing solutions that are as minimalist and simple as possible are the hard parts. The code is an implementation detail.

Mike Torr 4h ago

@mroach @elizayer Agree! The hardest part of the job doesn't need to be done at a screen and keyboard. I've been known to pace up and down my garden while designing an algorithm in my head.

robtherunt🌱💚4h ago

@macronencer @mroach @elizayer
When I was working, I would regularly solve a development issue while in the shower. I think it’s the brain being unstressed that does that.

Mike Roach 4h ago

@robtherunt @macronencer @elizayer Same! I’ve half jokingly said my bathroom is the most productive room in my home office setup. Sitting on the toilet and lots of a-ha moments

Spazcosoft 15h ago

@elizayer to be 100% completely super fair, we are seeing a massive increase in scams. So AI is good for something. Scams. It’s good for scams.

@spazcosoft @elizayer Wasn't this always? Newly hyped stuff is used for scam, or porn, or both.

kira for scale 13h ago

@elizayer i think about this. according to the promises, all the little snags and bugs and oversights in all the software i use should be gone by now. "everyone's focusing on bigger things" doesn't excuse it, i was given the expectation these types of fixes should have been trivial and quick. computing should be better than ever, or at least as good as it was in the 2010s

@elizayer yes, this. Code creation hasn’t been an issue for a long, long, long time. See “no silver bullet” (https://worrydream.com/refs/Brooks_1986_-_No_Silver_Bullet.pdf) written in *1986*.

Ladder Logic 🇨🇦8h ago

@elizayer
Almost all of the code written by the major software companies since the late 80’s has been bloatware. Especially operating systems. The days when programming was an art and minimizing resource usage was the primary consideration are long gone. If that code is what AI and these LLM’s are being “trained” on then expect software to continue its downward spiral.

ulveon.net (on derg.social)4h ago

@elizayer Claude Code found a 23-year-old Linux vulnerability, the kind a regular human security auditor would have taken weeks or months to find (or in this case, 23 years). https://mtlynch.io/claude-code-found-linux-vulnerability/

Claude Code Found a Linux Vulnerability Hidden for 23 Years

Claude Code has gotten extremely good at finding security vulnerabilities, and this is only the beginning.

DieKeh®seite 3h ago

@ulveon so this case justifies bazillions of dollars to be invested in needless serverfarms? And if that vulnerability wasnt discovered for 23 years it was prolly so well hidden that it was not an issue at all. Think about it.

Nienkez 🔻3h ago

@elizayer @ArtHarg AI only solves one problem: paying people wages.

DieKeh®seite 3h ago

@elizayer word!

Gary McGraw 36m ago

@elizayer workaday devs are serfs. Software architects are more crucial than ever. Architects emerge from jr devs through apprenticeship. Go.

René Seindal 9m ago

The problem AI is meant to solve is wages.

They don't care if quality sucks, if they can avoid paying wages.

Jos noemt het gewoon melk 6m ago

@elizayer
WAS not the problem. 🫠