QCon London 2026: AI Agents Write Your Code. What’s Left For Humans?
AI agents are transforming coding practices and team dynamics.
At QCon London 2026, Hannah Foxwell addressed the transformative impact of AI agents on software development, emphasizing that while these tools enhance coding speed, they also create new challenges for teams. She highlighted that development teams are now producing features faster than product managers can manage, leading to backlog shortages. Foxwell outlined three key principles for adapting to this change: the necessity of building meaningful products, ensuring safety in rapid development, and recognizing the enduring importance of human roles in the process.
Key Takeaways
- 1.
Development teams are experiencing backlog shortages for the first time due to rapid feature production.
- 2.
AWS achieved 10x throughput through agentic coding after re-engineering their testing and deployment practices.
- 3.
Foxwell advocates for a 'broken comb' engineer model to better integrate human skills with AI agents.
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