Execution is our cheap creditWe get one life. Usually one career. One shot at doing work that matters.
And I think we’re living through one of the most significant shifts in how software gets built in decades. Something has changed. You can feel it.
I think most builders feel it. I don’t want to oversell it. And I don’t want to pretend it’s nothing either.
The cost of building software has collapsed. Individuals can now ship things that used to require teams.
So what does that mean for us? the people who build software. Designers. Engineers. Product people.
On one hand, it can feel existential. Does what I do still matter? On the other hand, it might be the most exciting time in decades to be a builder. Because while some parts of our work have been commoditised, our leverage has never been higher.
The Distance Between Idea and RealityFor a long time, building software was expensive. That shaped how organisations worked. Work had to be specialised.
Product. Design. Engineering. Artefacts existed as translation layers between those groups.
Specs. Wireframes. Roadmaps. Tickets.
These things were proxies for communication. They helped protect efficiency. Because when building was slow and expensive, the worst thing you could do was build the wrong thing. That's still true today. Organisations optimised heavily around not wasting effort.
But now the distance between an idea and reality has reduced dramatically. A single person can prototype something in hours that used to require coordination across multiple teams. That changes the structure of work.
Your Taste Will Outrun Your AbilityDesigners learn a painful truth early in their career. For a long time, your taste is better than your ability. You can see the world more clearly than you can build it. This is frustrating, but if you keep shipping eventually your skill catches up to your taste.
Now perhaps the inverse is true?
Ability is accelerating faster than taste. We can build faster than we can judge.
The cost of building has collapsedLooking at Dublin, a city I grew up in and love. For decades the city grew relatively steadily. Housing expanded gradually outward. Then cheap credit arrived. Suddenly we could build much faster. And we did.
Housing construction exploded — particularly on the outskirts. But it was quantity over quality. Planning lagged behind ability.
The result?
Urban sprawl.
Ghost estates.
Congestion.
Dublin is now one of the most congested cities in Europe. Cheap capital didn’t create quality. It amplified ability — good or bad.
And that’s exactly what’s happening in software. Execution is our cheap credit. The cheaper building gets, the more expensive bad decisions become.
When options are limitless judgement becomes power. Taste becomes power. Restraint becomes power.
There used to be two playbooks.Be first, or be best. Being first is meaningless now. Anyone can catch up. Only thoughtful differentiated products endure.
If the UX is sloppy, that’s a choice.
If the system is fragile, that’s a choice.
If the workflow is incoherent, that’s a choice.
These were always choices. But now they’re much harder to excuse.
A single focused person can now do work that previously required coordination, meetings, and handoffs. That friction is disappearing. The best teams increasingly look like small groups of high-agency builders. People with a bias toward building. Not building more, but building better.
DesignersLess static artefact design. More behavioural and system-level design. More validation in real environments. More responsibility for coherence across the product.
Designers move from designing representations of the product to shaping the product itself.
Product ManagersThe role becomes sharper. Choosing what not to build. Defining success clearly before work begins. Sequencing bets deliberately. Killing weak ideas early.
EngineersLess focus on writing every line of code. More focus on shaping the systems in which code gets written. Designing environments that LLMs can safely extend. Refactoring legacy complexity that trips up agents. Building guardrails, not just features.
Engineers move from writing most of the code to shaping the environment where code happens.
In the past, building was slow.You might sit with a problem for days. That friction accidentally improved quality. You’d rethink things while implementing.
Now that an AI can generate a feature in minutes, how long are we actually sitting with the problem?
Speed used to create reflection. Now reflection has to be intentional. We need to become far more deliberate about quality.
This is the most leverage builders have ever had.It’s also the most responsibility. And yes — it’s uncomfortable. But I’d rather work in a moment of possibility than stagnation. This moment isn’t really about AI. It’s about raising our standards. Small teams can now build things that once required entire companies. Individuals can punch far above their weight.
And you don’t get many moments like that in a lifetime!
Execution is our cheap creditWe get one life. Usually one career. One shot at doing work that matters.
And I think we’re living through one of the most significant shifts in how software gets built in decades. Something has changed. You can feel it.
I think most builders feel it. I don’t want to oversell it. And I don’t want to pretend it’s nothing either.
The cost of building software has collapsed. Individuals can now ship things that used to require teams.
So what does that mean for us? the people who build software. Designers. Engineers. Product people.
On one hand, it can feel existential. Does what I do still matter? On the other hand, it might be the most exciting time in decades to be a builder. Because while some parts of our work have been commoditised, our leverage has never been higher.
The Distance Between Idea and RealityFor a long time, building software was expensive. That shaped how organisations worked. Work had to be specialised.
Product. Design. Engineering. Artefacts existed as translation layers between those groups.
Specs. Wireframes. Roadmaps. Tickets.
These things were proxies for communication. They helped protect efficiency. Because when building was slow and expensive, the worst thing you could do was build the wrong thing. That's still true today. Organisations optimised heavily around not wasting effort.
But now the distance between an idea and reality has reduced dramatically. A single person can prototype something in hours that used to require coordination across multiple teams. That changes the structure of work.
Your Taste Will Outrun Your AbilityDesigners learn a painful truth early in their career. For a long time, your taste is better than your ability. You can see the world more clearly than you can build it. This is frustrating, but if you keep shipping eventually your skill catches up to your taste.
Now perhaps the inverse is true?
Ability is accelerating faster than taste. We can build faster than we can judge.
The cost of building has collapsedLooking at Dublin, a city I grew up in and love. For decades the city grew relatively steadily. Housing expanded gradually outward. Then cheap credit arrived. Suddenly we could build much faster. And we did.
Housing construction exploded — particularly on the outskirts. But it was quantity over quality. Planning lagged behind ability.
The result?
Urban sprawl.
Ghost estates.
Congestion.
Dublin is now one of the most congested cities in Europe. Cheap capital didn’t create quality. It amplified ability — good or bad.
And that’s exactly what’s happening in software. Execution is our cheap credit. The cheaper building gets, the more expensive bad decisions become.
When options are limitless judgement becomes power. Taste becomes power. Restraint becomes power.
There used to be two playbooks.Be first, or be best. Being first is meaningless now. Anyone can catch up. Only thoughtful differentiated products endure.
If the UX is sloppy, that’s a choice.
If the system is fragile, that’s a choice.
If the workflow is incoherent, that’s a choice.
These were always choices. But now they’re much harder to excuse.
A single focused person can now do work that previously required coordination, meetings, and handoffs. That friction is disappearing. The best teams increasingly look like small groups of high-agency builders. People with a bias toward building. Not building more, but building better.
DesignersLess static artefact design. More behavioural and system-level design. More validation in real environments. More responsibility for coherence across the product.
Designers move from designing representations of the product to shaping the product itself.
Product ManagersThe role becomes sharper. Choosing what not to build. Defining success clearly before work begins. Sequencing bets deliberately. Killing weak ideas early.
EngineersLess focus on writing every line of code. More focus on shaping the systems in which code gets written. Designing environments that LLMs can safely extend. Refactoring legacy complexity that trips up agents. Building guardrails, not just features.
Engineers move from writing most of the code to shaping the environment where code happens.
In the past, building was slow.You might sit with a problem for days. That friction accidentally improved quality. You’d rethink things while implementing.
Now that an AI can generate a feature in minutes, how long are we actually sitting with the problem?
Speed used to create reflection. Now reflection has to be intentional. We need to become far more deliberate about quality.
This is the most leverage builders have ever had.It’s also the most responsibility. And yes — it’s uncomfortable. But I’d rather work in a moment of possibility than stagnation. This moment isn’t really about AI. It’s about raising our standards. Small teams can now build things that once required entire companies. Individuals can punch far above their weight.
And you don’t get many moments like that in a lifetime!