Thoughtworks CTO: Good developers wary of agentic coding because 'built' isn't 'working in production'
rseroter · x · 2026-10-31
Thoughtworks CTO Rachel Laycock explores why many excellent developers hesitate to go all-in on coding agents, rejecting the easy answers that they just love writing code or fear for their jobs.
- Core argument: their caution comes from knowing that "built" isn't the same as "working in production."
- The insight emerged from an open-space discussion around Technology Radar where the team pushed agentic development to its limits.
- Thoughtworks culture stresses building the right thing and building it right — software that's useful, changeable next year, and stable in production; practices like CI, automated testing, and continuous delivery came from that mindset.
- Going all-in on agents requires a lot of confidence in the tech, which senior engineers who know production realities are least willing to grant.
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