Claude Code works great out of the box on greenfield projects. On brownfield codebases, the built-in search starts to hurt you. When to use native agentic search, when to add vector or graph search, and how to wire them up as MCP servers.
The original 3 amigos brought product, developer and tester into the room before a story got built. AI first engineering has quietly reinstated the pattern twice over, once for humans, once for agents. Where the hard question sits is in the reviewer role.
How to structure engineering teams when AI agents are part of the workforce.
AI has changed what you should test in interviews, how you onboard juniors, and what mentoring actually looks like. The practical playbook for the people side of AI-first engineering.
AI productivity tools amplify what already exists in your engineering team - for better or worse. The diagnosis - what the data actually shows about AI, productivity, and the growing gap between seniors and juniors.
