The next decade of software will be built by teams of people and agents.
I lead one, and I build the tools it needs. Here I write about what that changes, for engineers and for the people who lead them.
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Three ideas I keep coming back to.
Context is the real work.
When agents write much of the code, the scarce skill becomes deciding what they should know, and what they shouldn’t.
Lead with intent, not instructions.
People and agents both fail on step-by-step orders. A clear goal, clear constraints and a shared picture of done are what scale.
Agents need infrastructure, not better prompts.
Long-running agents need what programs got decades ago: managed memory, permissions and scheduling. In other words, a kernel.
Leader by role.
Builder by habit.
I’m SVP of Engineering at WP Engine, leading teams across the US and Europe that build the platform behind a meaningful share of the world’s WordPress sites. In 2020 I opened our engineering office in Kraków.
I still build, because the fastest way to understand what agents change about engineering is to work with them yourself. Outside work I read more physics and philosophy of science than management books, and I have a soft spot for mechanical watches.
15+ years · WP Engine, UBS, SolarWinds, Intel Security
Building on the side.
- LOCI-DB
Spatial memory for robots, drones and world models: what they saw, where and when.
Open source ↗ - LOCI Companion
A personal AI assistant with vision memory: a camera pendant that remembers what you saw, where and when.
Prototype - Enclave
A privacy layer that lets AI assistants use sensitive data without being trusted with all of it.
Provisional patent
Writing
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Building LOCI Companion, Part 1: A Personal AI Assistant That Remembers What You See
LOCI Companion is a personal AI assistant with vision memory: a small camera worn on the chest that remembers what you saw, where and when, so you can…
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Agents Don’t Need a Better Harness. They Need a Kernel.
Today’s agent frameworks are harnesses: they wrap a model call and hope state survives. Long-running agents need what operating systems figured out decades ago — a kernel.
Earlier essays are on LinkedIn.
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