My coding agent writes the code—so why am I still its project manager?
aldi949 · reddit · 2026-10-10
The author argues the biggest problem with coding agents is no longer mistakes but management overhead: agents skip steps, stop halfway, and treat "done" as "I've finished talking." Even with a full step-by-step plan, agents keep splitting work and waiting for "continue."
The real pain is having to remember the original task for the agent and judge whether it's actually finished. The author built a small open-source experiment that separates completion checks from the working agent, so its own "done" message isn't enough. In one test, Codex stopped before creating a required file; the check caught it, sent the task back, and Codex finished on the second attempt—no "continue" needed. He acknowledges limits: checks can miss requirements and coverage is narrow. He asks whether anyone has had an agent finish a substantial task unattended.
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