by Terretta | 2026-01-30 14:58:59+00:00
> AI is writing code in the cleverest way possible …

On the contrary, without mastery guiding, AI writes code in the most boilerplate way possible, even if that means compromising logic or functionality.

> … which then introduces cognitive load for anyone who hasn't encountered these patterns previously

And for those who have. This is the enterprise Java effect. The old trope is Java was designed to make all devs median and all produce the same median code so enterprises don't have to worry about the individual devs, it's all the same bowl of unflavored oatmeal.

When you read code from vibe coding novice, it's difficult to grok the intended logic because that's buried within these chunks of enterprise pattern boilerplate as if the solution was somehow regex'd at random from StackOverflow until some random combination happened to pass a similarly randomized bag of tests.

The cognitive load to reverse this mess into clean clear expression of logic is very high whether a human or machine "coded" this way.

In both cases, the antidote is caring for craft and mastery first, with an almost pseudocode clarity in expressing the desired outcome.

OK, but -- even this doesn't guarantee the result one wants.

Because even if the master writes the code themselves, they may find their intent was flawed. They expressed the intent clearly, but their intention wasn't helpful for the outcome needed.

This is where rapid iteration comes in.

A master of software engineering may be able to iterate on intent faster with the LLM typing the code for them than they can type and iterate on their own. With parallel work sessions, they may be able to explore intention space faster to reach the outcome.

Each seasonal improvement in LLM models' ability to avoid implementation errors while iterating this way makes the software developer with mastery but lack of perfect pre-visualization of intent more productive. Less time cleaning novice coding errors, more cycles per hour iterating the design in their head.

This type of productivity gain has been meaningful for this type of developer.

At the same time, the "chain of thought" or "reasoning" loops being built into the model are reaching into this intention space, covering more of the prompt engineering space for devs with less mastery being unable to express much less iterate intent. This lets vibe "coders" imagine their productivity is improving as well.

If the output of the vibe coder (usually product managers, if you look closely) is considered to be something like a living mockup and not a product, then actual software engineers can take that and add the *-ilities (supportability, maintainability, etc. that the vibe coder has never specified whether vibing or product managing).

Using a vibed prototype can accelerate the transfer of product conception from the PM to the dev team more effectively than PM just yelling at a dev tech lead that the dev hasn't understood what the PM is saying the product should be. Devs can actually help this process by ensuring the product "idea" person is armed with a claude.md to orient the pattern medianizer machine with the below the waterline stuff engineering teams know are 80% of the cost-through-time.

There's not a lot of discussion of prototype vibing being a new way for product owners and engineering teams to gain clarity above the waterline, or whether it's productive. Here's a dirty secret: it's more productive in that it's more protective of the rarer skilset's time. The vibe time wasted is paid by the product owner (hallelujah), the eng team can start with a prototype the product owner iterated with while getting their intent sorted out, so now engineerings iterations shift from intent (PM headspace) to implementation (eng headspace).

Both loops were tightened.

> you run the risk of adding further complexity in the process of 'fixing' the bugs and before you know it you have a big stinking ball of mud.

Iterating where the problem lies, uncoupling these separate intention and iteration loops, addresses this paradox.