Why AI agents are rewriting the rules of product development — and most teams are missing it.
I keep hearing the same dismissive take: "AI is just another tool, like going from Angular to React."
No. This is fundamentally different.
I ran a 450-person company with 100 engineers. I saw how software was built from the top — the planning meetings, the sprint rituals, the coordination overhead, the hiring cycles. I know what it takes to ship products at scale.
Now I'm building a startup again, hands-on in the code. And I'm telling you: the game has changed completely.
In the traditional setup, shipping a feature requires:
- A product manager to write the spec
- A designer for mockups
- A frontend dev
- A backend dev
- A QA engineer to test
- A code reviewer
- Maybe a DevOps person to deploy
That's 5-7 people touching one feature. Multiply that by communication overhead, meetings, async handoffs, and timezone gaps. You know the drill.
Today, one experienced engineering manager can:
- Write the technical spec themselves
- Develop the entire feature from start to finish
- Configure AI agents to review code quality
- Set up AI agents to run tests automatically
- Ship — while they sleep
You don't need a specialist for every step anymore. AI agents are your specialists. They're your code reviewers, your QA team, your pair programmers. And they work 24/7.
Yes, as the product grows, you'll still need humans for cross-team communication and product strategy. But you don't need armies of developers for the same output. Not anymore.
Here's a real example from a company I advise.
Their React Native developer is responsible for the mobile app. The web team ships features fast. Mobile is always a month behind.
I asked him: "What percentage of your code is AI-generated?"
His answer: "About 60%. I write 40% myself."
That number should be 99%.
I'm going to sit with him tomorrow and observe how he works.
My hypothesis? He opens the React web codebase on a big monitor, studies the components, mentally maps the logic, and then manually rewrites everything for React Native.
That's a 2015 workflow using 2025 tools.
Here's the setup that actually leverages AI:
- Agent 1 analyzes the React web code and automatically ports it to React Native
- Agent 2 runs tests on every change and flags issues
- The human reviews, approves, and handles edge cases
The developer becomes the conductor, not the orchestra. They're directing the AI agents, not competing with them.
Here's the uncomfortable truth:
If you've been writing code for 20 years, you'll adopt AI. You'll generate snippets. You'll use Copilot for autocomplete.
But you won't delegate the workflow to AI. You won't let agents run autonomously. You can't let go of control.
That's the gap. That's what separates 60% from 99%.
It's not about skill. It's about mindset.
This isn't about replacing developers. It's about 10x-ing the ones who adapt.
One engineer + AI agents > Five engineers doing it the old way.
The teams that figure this out will ship faster, leaner, and cheaper. The ones that don't will wonder why they can't keep up.
The revolution isn't coming. It's already here.
The only question is: which side are you on?
What's your experience with AI agents in development? Reply and let me know.