Day 2 of What's Next

Day 2 of what's next. Gratitude is the word of the day, but there's also some career stew steeping today. Like everyone in technology I'm continually re-learning my job as Agentic swarms have shifted the way we work. At base I think software engineering is still the codification of a process. It's taking decision trees, or actions and creating digital stand-ins that allow us to work faster and broader.

Agents have shifted the way we understand the problem, accelerate the definition of the landscape and ultimately commodify¹ the encoding of a solution, but the fundamental flow is still the same. Agents exist as both toys and tools. The name Cronagotchi — that I really want to stick — is what I call scheduled atomic agents that require a steady diet of tokens to thrive. These Cronagotchi are only a tool if they can be connected back to a fundamental problem or opportunity, otherwise they're fun pets that entertain but don't create measurable value.

The biggest lesson for me of the last 18 months is that the speed at which I can create or codify solutions is less important than the ability to connect with other humans to understand the opportunities we can solve together. What's most needed in this chimeral time is continuity of conversation, the shift-left is for more than security, accessibility, and quality — in the age of Agents — we all need to be part of the dialog about what's possible.

Agnostic of any tool, intelligent or otherwise, it's the conversations along the way that give purchase to the next amazing thing. So thank you to everyone who has reached out over the last few days and to anyone else impacted by the #Nike layoffs, whether you're in or out of the berm please ping me I can help plant a seed of conversation for you.