Birgitta B
@birgitta410.bsky.social
Software Dev at Thoughtworks, Berlin and elsewhere | http://birgitta.info | @bboeckel@toot.thoughtworks.com
„…the tech industry should stop focusing so heavily on these one-size-fits-all tools, and instead concentrate on narrow, specialized A.I. tools engineered for particular problems. Because, frankly, they’re often more effective.“ www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/o...
Opinion | Silicon Valley Is Investing in the Wrong A.I.
www.nytimes.com
October 17, 2025 at 9:18 AM
„…the tech industry should stop focusing so heavily on these one-size-fits-all tools, and instead concentrate on narrow, specialized A.I. tools engineered for particular problems. Because, frankly, they’re often more effective.“ www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/o...
I tried to make sense of "spec-driven development" by looking at 3 tools: Amazon's Kiro, GitHub's spec-kit, and the Tessl Framework
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
Understanding Spec-Driven-Development: Kiro, spec-kit, and Tessl
Notes from my Thoughtworks colleagues on AI-assisted software delivery
martinfowler.com
October 15, 2025 at 1:11 PM
I tried to make sense of "spec-driven development" by looking at 3 tools: Amazon's Kiro, GitHub's spec-kit, and the Tessl Framework
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
Reposted by Birgitta B
📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU.
Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.
Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.
We are alarmed by reports that Germany is on the verge of a catastrophic about-face, reversing its longstanding and principled opposition to the EU’s Chat Control proposal which, if passed, could spell the end of the right to privacy in Europe. signal.org/blog/pdfs/ge...
signal.org
October 6, 2025 at 6:46 AM
📣 Germany's close to reversing its opposition to mass surveillance & private message scanning, & backing the Chat Control bill. This could end private comms-& Signal-in the EU.
Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.
Time's short and they're counting on obscurity: please let German politicians know how horrifying their reversal would be.
One of the challenges with service templates is that once a team instantiated a service with a template, it’s tedious to feed template updates back to those services. I wonder if anchoring AI agents to a template or reference application could help make that easier? martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
September 25, 2025 at 12:37 PM
One of the challenges with service templates is that once a team instantiated a service with a template, it’s tedious to feed template updates back to those services. I wonder if anchoring AI agents to a template or reference application could help make that easier? martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
To vibe or not to vibe? I wrote a new memo about the constant little risk assessments I make during AI-assisted coding, thinking about probability and impact if AI gets it wrong, and if I will be able to detect that. martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
September 23, 2025 at 9:33 AM
To vibe or not to vibe? I wrote a new memo about the constant little risk assessments I make during AI-assisted coding, thinking about probability and impact if AI gets it wrong, and if I will be able to detect that. martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
Reposted by Birgitta B
Wild to me that a CEO sets goals about outcomes that have nothing to do with the business (are customers more satisfied? Is the product more reliable? Etc.)
Setting the goal of what % of code should be AI-generated is as useful as setting the goal of how many lines of code devs should write per day
Setting the goal of what % of code should be AI-generated is as useful as setting the goal of how many lines of code devs should write per day
September 4, 2025 at 6:40 AM
Wild to me that a CEO sets goals about outcomes that have nothing to do with the business (are customers more satisfied? Is the product more reliable? Etc.)
Setting the goal of what % of code should be AI-generated is as useful as setting the goal of how many lines of code devs should write per day
Setting the goal of what % of code should be AI-generated is as useful as setting the goal of how many lines of code devs should write per day
We recently ran an experiment to explore how far GenAI can currently be pushed toward autonomously developing high-quality, up-to-date software without human intervention, and gather observations about where it breaks down.
martinfowler.com/articles/pus...
martinfowler.com/articles/pus...
How far can we push AI autonomy in code generation?
An experiment to test the limits of autonomous code generation by LLMs
martinfowler.com
August 5, 2025 at 2:18 PM
We recently ran an experiment to explore how far GenAI can currently be pushed toward autonomously developing high-quality, up-to-date software without human intervention, and gather observations about where it breaks down.
martinfowler.com/articles/pus...
martinfowler.com/articles/pus...
Reposted by Birgitta B
Gemeinsam mit Publix und @algorithmwatch.org laden wir ein zum Gespräch mit @meredithmeredith.bsky.social, Präsidentin des Messengers Signal, über die Frage, wie wir Technologie wieder stärker an menschlichen Bedürfnissen ausrichten können – vor allem beim Schutz unserer Privatsphäre.
➡️ t.ly/lIzA3
➡️ t.ly/lIzA3
July 29, 2025 at 7:43 AM
Gemeinsam mit Publix und @algorithmwatch.org laden wir ein zum Gespräch mit @meredithmeredith.bsky.social, Präsidentin des Messengers Signal, über die Frage, wie wir Technologie wieder stärker an menschlichen Bedürfnissen ausrichten können – vor allem beim Schutz unserer Privatsphäre.
➡️ t.ly/lIzA3
➡️ t.ly/lIzA3
I totally get it, I’m also tired of much of the public discourse. But here is one more argument for experienced devs like the author: If we want to guide & teach the „juniors“, we have a responsibility to know first hand what works and what doesn’t, because they are using LLMs if we like it or not.
Tired of Talking About AI
Some great responses to frequent comments.
“Why not at least keep one foot in the pool, in case it is the future?”
- I’m busy, I’m tired, and I have better uses of my time and energy.
paddy.carvers.com/posts/2025/0...
Some great responses to frequent comments.
“Why not at least keep one foot in the pool, in case it is the future?”
- I’m busy, I’m tired, and I have better uses of my time and energy.
paddy.carvers.com/posts/2025/0...
I’m Tired of Talking About AI
I don’t want to talk about LLMs anymore.
paddy.carvers.com
July 21, 2025 at 9:44 AM
I totally get it, I’m also tired of much of the public discourse. But here is one more argument for experienced devs like the author: If we want to guide & teach the „juniors“, we have a responsibility to know first hand what works and what doesn’t, because they are using LLMs if we like it or not.
I've seen a surge of discussions recently about large AI-generated change sets that are impossible to review by humans, paired with speculation if we still need to care about the code in the future. I expect to continue to care, especially if I'm on call for it martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
I still care about the code
Notes from my Thoughtworks colleagues on AI-assisted software delivery
martinfowler.com
July 9, 2025 at 4:02 PM
I've seen a surge of discussions recently about large AI-generated change sets that are impossible to review by humans, paired with speculation if we still need to care about the code in the future. I expect to continue to care, especially if I'm on call for it martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
I wrote a guest post on The Pragmatic Engineer newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/two-years-... rounding up 2 years of using AI coding assistants - how they evolved; ways of working; impact I see on speed, quality and team flow; and some thoughts on the future
Learnings from two years of using AI tools for software engineering
How to think about today’s AI tools, approaches that work well, and concerns about using them for development. Guest post by Birgitta Böckeler, Distinguished Engineer at Thoughtworks
newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com
June 24, 2025 at 1:37 PM
I wrote a guest post on The Pragmatic Engineer newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/two-years-... rounding up 2 years of using AI coding assistants - how they evolved; ways of working; impact I see on speed, quality and team flow; and some thoughts on the future
Reposted by Birgitta B
![Comic. [block quote] “Far better an approximate answer to the *right* question, which is often vague, than an *exact* answer to the wrong question, which can always be made precise.” -John W. Tukey, The Future of Data Analysis (1962) [caption] Happy Approximate Birthday to John Tukey, author of my favorite statistics quote, who was born 110.000 years ago sometime this week.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreid4vie3df7ltmh7capumhhqcpbejyr7ya7y762fasdeq46ud3gyva@jpeg)
Reposted by Birgitta B
I blurghed some thoughts blog.thepete.net/blog/2025/06...
Starting to realize what makes me nervous about Devin et al. It becomes a new incantation of the perennial problem of letting a stakeholder get work done by shoulder-tapping their favorite young engineer
Starting to realize what makes me nervous about Devin et al. It becomes a new incantation of the perennial problem of letting a stakeholder get work done by shoulder-tapping their favorite young engineer
Your CEO Should Not Be Slacking Your Coding Agent
Autonomous coding agents may seem magical, but they generate drag on your team. Allowing stakeholders to directly ask an AI to do work leads to the same old disruptions as directly requesting work fro...
blog.thepete.net
June 5, 2025 at 6:28 PM
I blurghed some thoughts blog.thepete.net/blog/2025/06...
Starting to realize what makes me nervous about Devin et al. It becomes a new incantation of the perennial problem of letting a stakeholder get work done by shoulder-tapping their favorite young engineer
Starting to realize what makes me nervous about Devin et al. It becomes a new incantation of the perennial problem of letting a stakeholder get work done by shoulder-tapping their favorite young engineer
In the past few weeks, a new surge of "background" coding agents came out. I wrote down an example of using OpenAI's Codex, this will hopefully help you understand better what they do under the hood, and which agent category they fall into.
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
https://martinfowler.com/articles/expl…
June 4, 2025 at 2:15 PM
In the past few weeks, a new surge of "background" coding agents came out. I wrote down an example of using OpenAI's Codex, this will hopefully help you understand better what they do under the hood, and which agent category they fall into.
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
When I code with an AI agent, I revert to the last comfortable checkpoint as soon as I feel like losing control. I wonder what that will be like for the delivery managers & POs of the future, what will THEY do when things around them change so fast and erratically that they feel like losing control?
June 2, 2025 at 1:46 PM
When I code with an AI agent, I revert to the last comfortable checkpoint as soon as I feel like losing control. I wonder what that will be like for the delivery managers & POs of the future, what will THEY do when things around them change so fast and erratically that they feel like losing control?
Good scope management is the linchpin of agile software delivery. Generative AI is like a scope chaos monkey, generating more code, more story details, more requirements than necessary
June 1, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Good scope management is the linchpin of agile software delivery. Generative AI is like a scope chaos monkey, generating more code, more story details, more requirements than necessary
Reposted by Birgitta B
NEW POST
To work effectively with agentic coding assistants, Birgitta Böckeler found she needs to intervene, correct and steer all the time. She describes examples of these interventions indicating the skills we need to correct the tools' missteps
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
To work effectively with agentic coding assistants, Birgitta Böckeler found she needs to intervene, correct and steer all the time. She describes examples of these interventions indicating the skills we need to correct the tools' missteps
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
March 25, 2025 at 3:16 PM
NEW POST
To work effectively with agentic coding assistants, Birgitta Böckeler found she needs to intervene, correct and steer all the time. She describes examples of these interventions indicating the skills we need to correct the tools' missteps
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
To work effectively with agentic coding assistants, Birgitta Böckeler found she needs to intervene, correct and steer all the time. She describes examples of these interventions indicating the skills we need to correct the tools' missteps
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
Nice write-up by @harper.lol on his AI-assisted coding workflow. I personally prefer in-IDE tools, but the concepts are reusable. ❤️ this:"I really want someone to solve this problem in a way that makes coding with an LLM a multiplayer game. Not a solo hacker experience."
harper.blog/2025/02/16/m...
harper.blog/2025/02/16/m...
My LLM codegen workflow atm
A detailed walkthrough of my current workflow for using LLms to build software, from brainstorming through planning and execution.
harper.blog
February 20, 2025 at 4:01 AM
Nice write-up by @harper.lol on his AI-assisted coding workflow. I personally prefer in-IDE tools, but the concepts are reusable. ❤️ this:"I really want someone to solve this problem in a way that makes coding with an LLM a multiplayer game. Not a solo hacker experience."
harper.blog/2025/02/16/m...
harper.blog/2025/02/16/m...
I have thoughts and open questions about the role reasoning models might play or not play in coding assistance. A lot of stake is put into how reasoning models are a step change in coding assistance, but I don't see it - yet?
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
Exploring Generative AI
Notes from my Thoughtworks colleagues on AI-assisted software delivery
martinfowler.com
February 18, 2025 at 3:39 AM
I have thoughts and open questions about the role reasoning models might play or not play in coding assistance. A lot of stake is put into how reasoning models are a step change in coding assistance, but I don't see it - yet?
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
New GenAI memo: I wrote down my thoughts and observations about the multi-file editing features that are currently being released in lots of coding assistants: martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
Exploring Generative AI
Notes from my Thoughtworks colleagues on AI-assisted software delivery
martinfowler.com
November 19, 2024 at 3:31 PM
New GenAI memo: I wrote down my thoughts and observations about the multi-file editing features that are currently being released in lots of coding assistants: martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
New "GenAI memo": In this one I explore the potential of AI assistance for tech stack migrations. I describe building an agent that changes the testing framework used in a test. As a side effect you can also gain a better understanding of how AI agents work: martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
Exploring Generative AI
Notes from my Thoughtworks colleagues on AI-assisted software delivery
martinfowler.com
August 26, 2024 at 12:53 PM
New "GenAI memo": In this one I explore the potential of AI assistance for tech stack migrations. I describe building an agent that changes the testing framework used in a test. As a side effect you can also gain a better understanding of how AI agents work: martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
My talk at GOTO Amsterdam is now live on YouTube: "AI Assistance Beyond Code: What Do We Need to Make it Work?" youtu.be/8jwiABwGC6c?...
AI Assistance Beyond Code: What Do We Need to Make it Work? • Birgitta Böckeler • GOTO 2024
YouTube video by GOTO Conferences
youtu.be
August 26, 2024 at 12:53 PM
My talk at GOTO Amsterdam is now live on YouTube: "AI Assistance Beyond Code: What Do We Need to Make it Work?" youtu.be/8jwiABwGC6c?...
In my newest "GenAI memo", I explore how today's AI tools can assist with onboarding to existing, potentially messy codebases. I do this by trying to understand and solve an issue in a real life codebase: martinfowler.com/articles/exp...
Exploring Generative AI
Notes from my Thoughtworks colleagues on AI-assisted software delivery
martinfowler.com
August 15, 2024 at 3:15 PM
In my newest "GenAI memo", I explore how today's AI tools can assist with onboarding to existing, potentially messy codebases. I do this by trying to understand and solve an issue in a real life codebase: martinfowler.com/articles/exp...