Vibe coding — using natural language to generate code through AI — represents a significant evolution in software development. It accelerates feedback cycles and democratizes programming but raises concerns about maintainability, security, and technical debt.
Learn why success likely requires a balanced approach: using vibe coding for rapid prototyping while maintaining rigorous standards for production code, with developers evolving from writers to architects and reviewers or auditors.
TL; DR: Agile Coach Bubble Origins — Food for Agile Thought #485
Welcome to the 485th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,652 peers. This week, Viktor Cessan explores the Agile Coach bubble origin, which was inflated by cheap capital. Marty Cagan and Felipe Castro stress that outcomes over outputs remain elusive without adopting the product model. Maarten Dalmijn identifies systemic dysfunction—not poor PMs—as the real challenge and proposes CACAO as a remedy. David Pereira urges teams to treat the backlog as a strategic tool, not a dumping ground. Also, Lenny Rachitsky interviews Anton Osika on how Lovable hit $10M ARR in 60 days by letting users describe apps in plain language—AI handles the rest.
Next, Ben Thompson interviews Sam Altman on OpenAI’s evolution from research lab to consumer tech giant, unpacking ChatGPT, AGI, and pursuing “the next Facebook.” Klaudia Jaźwińska and Aisvarya Chandrasekar expose how AI search engines misattribute and fabricate news content, damaging trust, and publisher economics. Peter Yang offers 12 grounded rules for building real apps with AI—especially for non-coders, while Charity Majors dismantles the 10x engineer myth, advocating for resilient, inclusive teams where “normal” engineers thrive. And Andy Cleff makes a case for self-selection: empowered teams deliver better outcomes than top-down assignments ever could.
Lastly, Rita McGrath defends bureaucracy’s stabilizing role but calls for permissionless systems. Ben Kuhn shares his Anthropic crisis project management lessons, and John Cutler uses LLMs to visualize individual interactions, which are documented during interviews. Finally, Ted Neward reframes organizational “debt” as strategic or destructive—urging awareness.
TL; DR: Bridging Agile and AI with Proper Prompt Engineering
Agile teams have always sought ways to work smarter without compromising their principles. Many have begun experimenting with new technologies, frameworks, or practices to enhance their way of working. Still, they often struggle to get relevant, actionable results that address their specific challenges. Regarding generative AI, there is a better way for agile practitioners than reinventing the wheel team by team—the Agile Prompt Engineering Framework.
Learn why it solves the challenge: a structured approach to prompting AI models designed specifically for agile practitioners who want to leverage this technology as a powerful ally in their journey.
Welcome to the 484th edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,673 peers. This week, Ethan Mollick examines vibe coding, where AI-native teams blend human expertise and AI to iterate and collaborate rapidly. Maarten Dalmijn critiques rigid planning, advocating for elastic teams that thrive in complexity. In anticipating engineering’s shift toward AI management roles, Jasper Gilley quit his FAANG job, seeing automation redefine technical careers. Michael Küsters likens middle management to Rock-Paper-Scissors, where unpredictability is key to success. At the same time, Fred Hebert dissects AI integration, emphasizing thoughtful human-in-the-loop design to avoid automation pitfalls.
Next, Itamar Gilad argues that product success is rare due to underestimated complexity and misaligned forces, advocating for strategic clarity and intentional culture-building. Then, David Pereira highlights how pilot testing helps PMs validate assumptions, reduce risks, and iterate faster, and Brian Balfour predicts AI will redefine product teams—transforming methodologies, roles, monetization, and distribution—urging AI-native strategies. In an interview with Peter Yang, Anthropic’s Scott White details how Claude 3.7 Sonnet accelerates product development through AI-generated PRDs, evals, and agentic coding tools.
Lastly, we critique overly blameless post-mortems, advocating for balanced accountability to prevent mediocrity, and Johanna Rothman champions rolling-wave planning to reduce pressure and improve adaptability. Ash Maurya stresses that successful pivots require rapid business model testing and external accountability. Additionally, Zvi Mowshowitz dissects Manus, a Chinese AI agent hyped as groundbreaking but revealed as a Claude wrapper, and, finally, Andrew Chen explores “vibe coding,” where AI reshapes software creation, predicting a shift toward intuitive, GUI-driven design, fragmented UX, and adaptive, self-improving applications.
Effective product development requires both strategic alignment and healthy Product Backlog management. Misalignment leads to backlog bloat, trust erosion, and building the wrong products. By implementing proper alignment tools, separating discovery from delivery, and maintaining appropriate backlog size (3-6 sprints), teams can build products that truly matter. Success depends on trust, collaboration, risk navigation, and focusing on outcomes over outputs. Learn more about how to embrace the alignment-to-value pipeline and create your product operating model.
TL; DR: Leadership Blindspots, AI Prototyping — Food for Agile Thought #483
Welcome to the 483rd edition of the Food for Agile Thought newsletter, shared with 42,689 peers. This week, Luona Lin and Kim Parker reveal U.S. workers’ anxiety around AI’s workplace impacts, while Lennart Meincke, Ethan Mollick, Lilach Mollick, and Dan Shapiro stress context-dependent complexities in prompt engineering. Charlie Guo sees AI hallucinations becoming manageable, Claire Lew identifies overlooked leadership blindspots, Joost Minnaar showcases Haier’s entrepreneurial employee model, and Arjun Shah champions ambitious “maximum thinking” over incrementalism.
Next, Will Larson explains how anyone, including engineers, can meaningfully shape organizational strategy through practical influence, while Ian Vanagas shares PostHog’s lessons on team autonomy, rapid iteration, and customer-driven development. Scott Sehlhorst highlights the power of clear problem statements, and Roman Pichler emphasizes intentional team design as key to sustained product success.
Lastly, Dan Shipper highlights Michael Taylor’s AI tool, Rally, which transforms customer research through risk-free audience simulations, while Aakash Gupta and Colin Matthews showcase rapid, code-free AI prototyping with Bolt, Lovable, v0, Replit, and Cursor. Johanna Rothman clarifies ranking versus prioritization for limiting WIP, and Jeff Gothelf outlines effective OKR retrospectives emphasizing preparation and evidence-based adjustments.
