Thread

The problem is not AI code, but not knowing about system architecture or intent

388 points · 240 comments · zazuke

glouwbug · 1790613143 · focus · HN ↗
When you write something you constantly remodel your understanding through refactors and rewrites until you internalize it. By internalizing it you gain the capacity to reason about it (during critical downtime) and communicate it. An entire team that can communicate can solve problems together, from one guy's vision to products white boarding to engineering's infrastructure to UX and UI's artistry.
It boggles me we completely forgot that the world operated like this just 4 years ago
1. vividfrier · 1790614733 · focus · HN ↗
  As part of a reorg, my team received a new system to maintain. I sat down with a great engineer and together we refactored that shit to get into something more maintainable. I became the go to guy for that system because our redactor led to such a deep understanding of the codebase.
  Now in the age of AI... we adopted another system from a team and when we asked for knowledge sharing to prep for the handover the answer we got was "do we still do that? Just ask Claude".
  It's now been a few months. We've shipped features in this new system. I still have no idea how it works. Okay I kind of know, but only at a very shallow level.
  AI is the worst thing to happen to our industry.

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