From Writing Lines to Writing Intent
Image credit: Alan Jiang UnsplashRelax
We are still coding.
Coding stems from encoding: translating human-readable information into machine-readable formats. By that definition, nothing has changed. We still encode intent into systems. What has changed is the interface.
Coding now includes prompt engineering: the process of structuring natural language inputs (prompts) to produce specified outputs from a generative artificial intelligence model. We no longer speak exclusively in syntax. We speak in specifications.
The Agentic Workflow
Tools like Claude Code, GitHub Copilot (in agent mode), and Cursor connect us to an agentic workflow, a development practice where a developer provides a high-level goal for an AI agent to plan and execute across a codebase, while the developer provides real-time supervision and validation.
Developer → goal
Agent → plan
Developer → supervise / approve
Agent → execute
The bottleneck shifts. It is no longer the execution of individual code changes. It is the specification of the goal.
Developers Are Now Architects
An agentic workflow expects developers to think like architects, but the title alone doesn’t make it so. The transition demands a new way of thinking: one that describes intent clearly enough for a machine to act on it.
Power users of AI have panoptic vision. They don’t just fire off a prompt. They plan the first prompt. They consider both the functional and non-functional requirements: features on one side; quality attributes, format, responses, scalability, security, usability on the other.
This is why, in the new age of coding, technical domain knowledge experts may be the best power users. They know what to ask for because they know what good looks like. They understand the constraints. They can evaluate the output. The value isn’t in typing faster. It’s in thinking more precisely about what needs to exist.
What This Means in Practice
I don’t use AI to replace my judgment. I use it to amplify my reach. I describe the architecture. I set the boundaries. I review the output. The agent handles the volume.
The craft hasn’t disappeared. It has moved upstream — from writing lines to writing intent.
