Without Writing Out the Standard, Your AI SDLC Will Struggle — Introducing the AI Software Engineer, a Silly Name for a Serious Problem

You rolled out the training, bought the licenses, ran the pilots, and your engineering org is producing almost exactly what it was two years ago. The problem was never the training. The problem is that you never set a new standard for what it means to work at your company, and you are the only person who can. Introducing the AI Software Engineer — a silly name for a serious problem.

After I have the bottleneck conversation with a CxO, I have the training conversation. Every time, in that order. The bottleneck conversation is about the silos, the measurement gaps, and the organizational geometry that hides value from the people paying for it (that one is The Bottlenecked CEO, and it pairs with this one). The training conversation is what this article is about, and it is the one most executives are quietly losing.