Most of the Job

A friend and I realized we’ve both been following a similar process since LLMs got good at writing code, without intentionally coordinating. We use agents to explore idea space and write software at the same time. Often this starts as a (sometimes) ambitious project the agent can’t fully complete independently. And that’s what we’ve come to expect. From this attempt we learn what the agent can and can’t easily do given the model and harness we are using. Then we modify our course, separating out the parts the agent can do or build, and plugging the gaps with bespoke tools that allow a human to apply specific intelligence or judgement where the agent falls short. That’s a pretty abstract process. Let me give a specific example. Months back, I wanted to build a tool that showed the flight call sign for whatever plane was currently visible in my window. The agent was able to find lots of available data feeds for me, showing realtime plane locations on a map, mapping regional call signs…