Read This Essay and Learn Why AI Can Do Programming

July 3, 2025

No AI, just the dinobaby expressing his opinions to Zillennials.

I, entirely by accident since Web search does not work too well, an essay titled “Ticket-Driven Development: The Fastest Way to Go Nowhere.” I would have used a different title; for example, “Smart Software Can Do Faster and Cheaper Code” or “Skip Computer Science. Be a Plumber.” Despite my lack of good vibe coding from the essay’s title, I did like the information in the write up. The basic idea is that managers just want throughput. This is not news.

The most useful segment of the write up is this passage:

You don’t need a process revolution to fix this. You need permission to care again. Here’s what that looks like:

Leave the code a little better than you found it — even if no one asked you to.

Pair up occasionally, not because it’s mandated, but because it helps.

Ask why. Even if you already know the answer. Especially then.

Write the extra comment. Rename the method. Delete the dead file.

Treat the ticket as a boundary, not a blindfold.

Because the real job isn’t closing tickets it’s building systems that work.

I wish to offer several observations:

Repetitive boring, mindless work is perfect for smart software
Implementing dot points one to five will result in a reprimand, transfer to a salubrious location, or termination with extreme prejudice
Spending long hours with an AI version of an old-fashioned psychiatrist because you will go crazy.

After reading the essay, I realized that the managerial approach, the “ticket-driven workflow”, and the need for throughput applies to many jobs. Leadership no longer has middle managers who manage. When leadership intervenes, one gets [a] consultants or [b] knee-jerk decisions or mandates.

The crisis is in organizational set up and management. The developers? Sorry, you have been replaced. Say, “hello” to our version of smart software. Her name is No Kidding.

Stephen E Arnold, July 3, 2025

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under AI, Business strategy, Management, News, Technology

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.