Using Claude Code's new code modernization plugin as part of your legacy system modernization effort. spec-ops.ai/blog/posts/s... #Claude #Anthropic #Legacy #Government

You can now read an *exclusive excerpt* from my debut novel, PRESTIGE DRAMA over at Electric Literature, free to read and preceded by a very sweet and funny letter of recommendation from the inimitable Caroline O'Donoghue. I'm biased but both are very good. electricliterature.com/prestige-dra...

Interested in #CivicTech, or government tech? Have you wrestled with legacy systems, or are interested in how they work? Thought about or tried spec-driven development? 1/2

Fragments: 34th Thoughtworks Technology Radar, what happens when developers don't read the LLM's code, DirectFile and tech in large organizations martinfowler.com/fragments/20...

I'm a lifelong reader who went through a dry period in my life where I didn't read much. There were reasons why this happened, but here are the things I did to turn that around and become a rejuvenated reader of books. civic.io/2023/01/04/m...

'Although AI agents are advancing rapidly, human expertise remains essential in software development." cacm.acm.org/opinion/rede...

#AI is changing the way government teams will practice Agile. Are agencies ready for the change? civic.io/2026/04/16/i...

Like talking about how AI is changing government software? Interested in legacy system modernization? I built a new community of practice around SpecOps - the spec-driven approach to legacy modernization I've been writing and talking about. Here's the link to join: join.slack.com/t/specopscom...

Me filing my taxes this year. www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0Cz...

Hot take: golf is boring.

In Zoom video setting terms, I am this many years old this month.

NEW POST Rahul Garg finishes his series on reducing the friction in AI-Assisted Development with a structured practice that feeds back learnings from AI sessions into the team's shared artifacts, turning individual experience into collective improvement. martinfowler.com/articles/red...

I really like the "npx skills add" user experience - nice flow to add a skill from a GitHub repo, and it'll install either globally or in your project, for your preferred coding agents. https://www.npmjs.com/package/skills

I wrote a guest post for @allthingsopen.bsky.social on how open source projects can adapt for the AI coding era. #AI #ChatGPT #Claude #Gemini #OpenSource allthingsopen.org/articles/ope...

Treating #AI instruction files as team infrastructure. martinfowler.com/articles/red...

Instead of sharing open source software code (or, instead of _just_ sharing code), governments should share open source software specifications. allthingsopen.org/articles/ai-... #AI #ChatGPT #Claude #Gemini #Coding

In this blog post, I demonstrate a hands-on example of using AI tools with a legacy technology system to build the foundation for a modern software solution. This is the SpecOps method in practice. spec-ops.ai/blog/posts/r...

Check out Activate, a new open source project for agentic, cross-functional delivery work. github.com/adhocteam/ac... #AI #ChatGPT #Claude #Gemini #Coding

I was interviewed about the SpecOps Method for legacy system modernization on the Civic Tech Chat podcast. Check out the episode here. civictech.chat/episodes/the... #AI #ChatGPT #Claude #Gemini

Worth spending a moment to think about what else all these billions could have been spent on. And worth remembering this example the next time someone tells you a technology is inevitable.

A new study reveals a troubling pattern in open source projects adopting AI coding tools. The fix, it turns out, may lie in an idea as familiar as a CONTRIBUTING file — but updated for the AI era. civic.io/2026/03/16/e... #AI #ChatGPT #Claude #Gemini #OpenSource

New chapter for Agentic Engineering Patterns: I tried to distill key details of how coding agents work under the hood that are most useful to understand in order to use them effectively simonwillison.net/guides/agent...

Hard agree: "Simply converting COBOL to, say, Java results in 'JOBOL,' a confusing mishmash that mimics the structure of COBOL but with none of its readability." The SpecOps Method was created with this problem in mind. Converting old code to new code is the wrong focus for legacy modernization.

There are (sort of) two kinds of coders: those who see it as just a well-paying, stable job, and those who do it on nights and weekends because they love it, and it’s part of their identity. *Both* are under attack from bosses trying to put them out of work... www.anildash.com/2026/03/13/c... ...

The future of software development belongs to those who can best articulate what they want to build and how it should work. The ability to just write good code is no longer enough. Developers will have to write good words as well. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/m...

Early day is for this new offering from the creator of Kotlin. But the guiding principle is one that I think is going to fundamentally change the way we create software into the future. Write specs, not code. Need to change the code, change the spec first. 🏆 👏 codespeak.dev

CodeSpeak is a new "language" from the Kotlin creator, where you write a spec describing the program, and it generates the program. https://codespeak.dev/ I can see this working for utilities/pure functions, but I have a hard time imagining it for full-stack app.

WHAT IF YOU JUST READ A FUCKING BOOK

Important bit from this recent blog post that highlights both why up front spec development is so important in agentic engineering, and also why its so hard to do well. www.claudecodecamp.com/p/i-m-buildi...

Agentic coding is changing the way software is developed, but it likely won't remove humans from the process. Human expertise is as critical as ever. adhoc.team/2026/03/09/h... #AI #ChatGPT #Claude #Gemini #Cursor

New on the SpecOps Blog - Modernizing Government Regulations with AI. spec-ops.ai/blog/posts/m...

Trim down those bloated AGENTS.md files. mheadd.github.io/agent-slimmer/ #ai #cursor #copilot #agents #claude

If this doesn't get your body moving in some kind of way, get your pulse checked. 🏵️ ❤️ 🎤 🎧

🚀 NEW on We ❤️ Open Source 🚀 AI is making code cheaper to write & easier to understand, shifting the real scarcity to domain knowledge. Mark Headd explores why future collaboration may center on sharing specifications and institutional expertise. allthingsopen.org/articles/ai-... #WeLoveOpenSource

This is important. "CLAUDE.md is not a one-time setup. It’s a living document — but not an ever-growing one."

New research has lots of people saying AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md files aren't worth it. But the research shows that AI coding agents follow these instructions reliably — the problem is most of these files are full of things agents would figure out anyway. 1/2

New research: AI agents given human-curated Skills improved performance 16 points on average. AI Agents that generated their own skills files? Essentially zero benefit. Human expertise still matters most. spec-ops.ai/blog/posts/s... #AI #Claude #ChatGPT #LLMs #Codex #Copilot

Me, coming back to work after vacation: "I'm coming back to this project after being away for about a week and there have been several non-trivial changes committed to the code. Can we do a fresh git pull and discuss the changes that have been made?"

Anthropic's new report on #AI coding trends shows that engineers use AI in 60% of their work but fully delegate less than 20% of tasks. They call this "the collaboration paradox." The report also predicts AI will handle COBOL fluently soon. Let's dig in. 🧵 resources.anthropic.com/hubfs/2026%2...

"Your coding agent is not malicious. It's amnesiac." mahdiyusuf.com/why-your-cod...

True story

Lots of chatter online about what people are seeing with the rapid evolution of #AI coding tools, but I don't see as much conversation about what these changes mean. Here's what I think it means for a sector that I have worked in on and off for my entire life: government. civic.io/2026/02/11/g...

I been saying this: "The SaaSpocalypse - The week AI killed software" www.fintechbrainfood.com/p/the-saaspo...

How government platforms make #AI coding assistants more effective. adhoc.team/2026/02/05/h...

Cool new feature to add agentic workflows to your GitHub repos. Another banger coming from the group at @githubnext.com and further validation that the future of software development is opening up for people that have developed the ability to communicate clearly. Words > Code github.github.io/gh-aw/

Astute watchers of the ESPN 30 for 30 "The Philly Special" will notice a special cameo by a quintessentially Philadelphia character: Joseph Salvatore Merlino. I think he has a steak shop now in Philly or something. Wild seeing him in this. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joey_Me...

If there was a snow shoveling event in the Winter Olympics, I'd crush that shit.

ESPN 30 for 30 episode on the iconic Philly Special play from Super Bowl 52 drops tonight at 9:30 PM EST. INJECT THIS DIRECTLY INTO MY VEINS!!! #GoBirds #30for30 www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVYa...

Good advice here: "Fully trusting the answer an LLM gives you is foolishness, but it’s wise to use an LLM to help navigate the way to the answer."

Sometimes you just have to "git checkout main && git branch -D your-old-idea" and start again...