Architecture on jpcercal.com

What an AI Session Can Teach the Next One

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

An AI assistant can help write code, explain an unfamiliar system, investigate a failure, or draft documentation. An AI agent can go a step further and take several actions on our behalf.

In both cases, it is easy to focus only on the immediate result. Did the code compile? Did the document look reasonable? Did the task move forward?

There is another result that is easy to lose: what the session taught us about the way our team works.

Working With AI Agents: Stay on the Loop

Sun, 13 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been thinking recently about how our role as software engineers changes when AI agents become part of the development process.

There seems to be a tempting choice between two extremes.

Either we let the agent handle everything and trust the result, or we stay involved in every step, reviewing every piece of code it produces.

I don’t think either approach scales particularly well.

The output isn’t the whole process

When building software, we often focus heavily on the artifacts we produce: code, tests, technical designs, configuration, and documentation.

Understand the System Before Changing It

Thu, 10 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that good architecture often starts with understanding the system you already have.

Before changing something, I usually invest some time looking at how requests actually flow, where the dependencies are, what the failure points might be, and perhaps most importantly… why things ended up the way they are.

Sometimes there’s a very good reason. Sometimes the reason is simply that the system evolved over time. Either way, understanding the context usually leads to better decisions than jumping straight to a solution.