Experiments
Small tests, with dates and limits.
Updated 30 August 2026. Working notes on agent-assisted delivery and product-system sketches. These are observations from my own workflow, not controlled benchmarks.
Active as of 30 August 2026
April 2026 to present
Agent-assisted delivery loops
Question
Testing where multi-agent workflows genuinely improve engineering output, and where orchestration overhead outweighs the gains.
Setup
Codex, Cursor, repo checklists, and parallel agent handoffs
Constraint
Useful speed only counts if review quality, integration discipline, and ownership stay intact.
Observed result
Parallel agents help most with repo orientation, first-draft implementation, and comparison work. The failure mode is orchestration theatre: too many agents, vague briefs, and more review debt than progress.
Next step: Keep the loop small: one clear owner, explicit checks, and tight handoffs instead of open-ended autonomy.
Related: The Velocity Paradox
Concluded
March 2026 to April 2026
Specification-first building
Question
Tested whether clearer intent, quality gates, and better prompts could improve architecture and communication when using AI tools.
Setup
Prompt scaffolds, acceptance criteria, and lightweight decision logs
Constraint
AI punishes vague intent immediately. Bad briefs turn into plausible but generic output.
Observed result
The biggest gain is not raw speed. It is forcing clearer thinking earlier, which improves architecture notes, pull requests, and conversations with humans as well as tools.
Next step: Carry the useful parts into future work: acceptance criteria, small decision records, and explicit checks.
Related: What I am focused on now
Product-system sketches
Question
Used small tools and interface sketches to expose where product behaviour and backend constraints did not line up.
Setup
Small Astro pages, interface notes, and API-shape experiments
Constraint
Interesting product ideas usually fail at the joins between interface, workflow, and backend reality.
Observed result
The strongest sketches are the ones that expose permissions, trust, handoffs, and maintenance load early. If those stay vague, the concept is not ready.
Next step: Use permissions, trust, handoffs, and maintenance load as an early checklist for future sketches.
Related: Selected work
How to read these notes
Each entry records a narrow question and the constraint that kept the test honest. A concluded entry stays here so its date and result do not drift into a claim about current work.
A useful result can be negative. If a workflow adds more review than it saves, that is evidence to make the loop smaller or stop it.