Is Big Upfront Planning Back? Devs Debate Waterfall in the AI Era

Gergely Orosz argues that with AI accelerating implementation a hundredfold, big upfront planning may be viable again. Matt Pocock agrees but stresses planning granularity, noting the traditional boundary between waterfall and agile is dissolving as those differences were about organizing human labor, leaving only the question of planning granularity in the AI agent era.

2026-11-10 ~ 2026-11-10 · 3 related posts

• Gergely Orosz: With AI making implementation 100x faster, does Big Upfront Planning make sense again? — GergelyOrosz · 2026-11-10
• Matt Pocock: With AI, both waterfall and agile get better — plan in code, not text — mattpocockuk · 2026-11-10
• Waterfall vs agile distinction fades in the AI era, says Matt Pocock — mattpocockuk · 2026-11-10