Balancing skepticism and curiosity

LinkedIn, although a good place for conversation when you can find it, has been too much for me lately. Instead, I’ve focused my time and energy on reading more blog posts, books and newsletters. Most of what I’m reading are experience reports from people using AI to help them in some ways - testing, building, or just personal experiments.

The magnitude and speed at which AI is impacting (or hoping it will impact) the industry is creating a lot of noise. Noise from people claiming that everything will change or that they are 10x more productive now. Or noise from people who are warning to avoid it.

It makes sense to be skeptical about a lot of the claims people make. Especially if you are used to seeing a lot of “snake oil”. Add on top of this that AI models are improving rapidly and our experiences week to week can differ greatly. 

The good news is, people are writing about their experiences. They’re saying “I tried this” and “I tried that” and it worked or didn’t work. I’ve got a few of those articles just waiting to be written. 

Curiosity is the thing that’s driving me now. Despite company pressures and seemingly social pressure - I’m curious what others are doing. What are people building? What can I build that will put me into a position to better understand the changes happening in software development? This curiosity is exactly what will help me navigate the shifting pressures of testing and quality today.

Next week, I’ll be sharing a new experience report. In the meantime, what have you been building lately?