AI Coding Speed Isn't Agile's Real Bottleneck

Definitely, Maybe Agile

Definitely, Maybe Agile
AI Coding Speed Isn't Agile's Real Bottleneck
Jul 23, 2026 Season 3 Episode 227
Peter Maddison and Dave Sharrock

AI can write code faster than ever, but Peter Maddison and Dave Sharrock argue that coding was never the actual bottleneck in software delivery.

In this conversation about AI software delivery, Peter and Dave dig into why faster coding hasn't solved the two problems that always mattered: knowing whether what you built is actually valuable, and knowing what to build in the first place. They connect this back to sprint length, arguing it was never set by how hard the coding is, but by how fast an organization can learn and decide. As AI generates more options and even makes decisions on our behalf, the conversation turns to what happens when judgment can't keep pace with output, and why product owners and stakeholders still need real time to validate high-risk calls.

This week's takeaways:
- Coding speed was never the real constraint. The two problems that still matter are knowing if something is valuable and knowing what to build in the first place.
- Sprint length should be set by your organization's decision and learning latency, not by how fast code can be written.
- As AI generates more options and even makes decisions for you, leaders need time and context to validate high-risk calls, because judgment doesn't speed up as easily as output does.

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