AI = Hobby Shipping? · The AI Advantage

AI = Hobby Shipping?

Software factory", "AI software factory", "Agent factory", "Factory engineering"....

Seems like 'factory' is the new buzzword in AI & development.

Warp, Cursor, Microsoft... all in one week used the same metaphor for their position in the market. Industrialising software development with AI.

The picture's right for the most part. Agents writing, merging, shipping, faster and cheaper than any team could, just like a factory line and if you run an enterprise, this should be in your roadmap.

But hang on. Every version of the pitch is about the conveyor belt: more, faster, fewer people. Not one of them mentions the 'boring bits' that make a factory a business.

Does anyone know what to build, and why? Is what comes off the line any good? Is anyone checking? Can you tell what it's worth?

You know - the reasons you build a factory in the first place.

Everyone's selling the fast factory line. Nobody's selling the part that tells you that the line was worth building.

Forget about that part and it's not a factory. It's a very expensive hobby that happens to ship code.

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AI = Hobby Shipping?