Agentic development doesn't just change how we write software — it reveals how much of our traditional process is obsolete. Pair review, approval gates, bureaucratic guardrails: cozy rituals from a time when humans wrote every line. David Crawshaw, cofounder of Exe.dev, is ready to rant for change.
Content from the Library
Third Loop Ep. #14, Brains in Jars with Dr. Cat Hicks
On episode 14 of Third Loop, the Progressive Delivery team sits down with Dr. Cat Hicks, psychologist and author of The Psychology of Software Teams. Cat unpacks the “Brains in Jars” mental model, the belief that engineers are interchangeable pure-cognition units, and explains why organizations that hold it struggle to use AI well. The conversation covers learning debt, overproduction pressure, and what teams should do with the time agents save.
Data Renegades Ep. #14, Databases for Humans and Agents with Hannes Mühleisen
On episode 14 of Data Renegades, CL Kao speaks with Hannes Mühleisen, co-creator of DuckDB, about building databases that people actually want to use. Hannes explains how conversations with frustrated statisticians shaped DuckDB’s architecture and why useful software sometimes requires abandoning your own assumptions. They explore DuckLake, the Quack client-server protocol, and how a focus on human usability is paying off as AI agents begin choosing their own tools.
The Mythical Agent-Month
Wes McKinney, cofounder of Kenn Software, creator of pandas, and co-creator of Apache Arrow, revisits The Mythical Man-Month for the age of agent factories: why coordination is part of the work, and why judgment and taste matter more as agents take on more of the building.