3 ms·

Okay. Show me the evidence that AI has an impact on productivity when doing design work. Or reducing meeting load. My own experience is that AI doesn't tighte

Okay. Show me the evidence that AI has an impact on productivity when doing design work. Or reducing meeting load. My own experience is that AI doesn't tighten the design cycle, and in fact might extend it by encouraging gold plating.

simonw 2mo ago
What kind of shape of evidence would you find convincing?
- bluefirebrand 2mo ago
  People working fewer hours :)
  - kaashif 2mo ago
    Damn, looks like we have lower productivity than cavemen!
  - keeda 2mo ago
    Sir, this is Capitalism.
- unknownfuture 2mo ago
  Self-reported or observational data capturing time spent for categories of task ala every other similar study in this space? This isn't exactly novel territory, here, Simon. Let's not pretend I'm asking for something strange, unprecedented, or unreasonable.
  - simonw 2mo ago
    How's this? https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/13/datasette-code-frequency/ https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/13/datasette-code-frequen... I have similar charts across my three main open source projects: https://github.com/simonw/datasette/graphs/code-frequency https://github.com/simonw/datasette/graphs/code-frequency https://github.com/simonw/llm/graphs/code-frequency https://github.com/simonw/llm/graphs/code-frequency https://github.com/simonw/sqlite-utils/graphs/code-frequency https://github.com/simonw/sqlite-utils/graphs/code-frequency
    - qsera 2mo ago
      I don't think volume of code changed was the metric the other commenter was asking for.
      - deleted 2mo ago
        [deleted]
    - the_af 2mo ago
      Isn't this falling into the "lines of code" trap TFA mentions? More code written is not a good measure of productivity. It could be garbage, or redundant code, or simply not addressing the real or more pressing needs, it could be building the wrong thing, etc. Like TFA mentions, it's been known for decades LoC is a misleading metric for productivity. It's one of the lessons of software engineering.
      - simonw 2mo ago
        I'm planning an article at the moment in defense of lines of code. Saying "lines of code are a bad measurement" is too easy! It's about time someone presented an opposing argument. In my specific case, lines of code for my published open source projects is a metric that I trust, because I have high standards for those. I have plenty of other projects where I'll accept poor quality, unreviewed code (almost all of https://github.com/simonw/tools https://github.com/simonw/tools for example), but Datasette, sqlite-utils and LLM are not that. Of course, that's only useful for me personally and for people who trust me to stick to my own self-declared high standards!
        otabdeveloper4 2mo ago
        > Lines of code are akshually a good metric now, because that's the only metric LLMs can optimize and I really, really, really love LLMs, they're the bee's knees. Really now?
        simonw 2mo ago
cuttothechase 2mo ago
[flagged]
mountainriver 2mo ago
It does because you can now just steamroll features out the door and make everyone look bad that’s sitting around in meetings all day
- dgellow 2mo ago
  Are you aware literally everyone else also has access to AI stuff? You’re not special for using an agent. You’re part of the crowd
  - mountainriver 2mo ago
    Depends on where you work... where I happen to work people sit in Jira meetings all day and in the time they talk about it my team implements it. So yes "literally everyone has access to it" (what a revelation) but you still need to be smart in how you use it
sandeepkd 2mo ago
From the patterns I have seen people would tend to use the time to build demo's using AI instead of design and then have a back and forth on the demo itself. One has to consider the fact that demo's look more convincing/complete and give an impression that the design decision has been made. In some ways, how agile got rid of the need for explicit & detailed documentation, the AI created demo's will cut the requirements of high level designs too.
- Exoristos 2mo ago
  > demo's look more convincing/complete ... In the case of an LLM generated demo, usually deceptively so. > and give an impression that the design decision has been made. In the case of a vibed design, this is the opposite of useful for the team.
  - sandeepkd 2mo ago
    The concept of MVP has been there for a while, it felt deceptive too and incurred lot of tech debt. However one would feel the deception only if they understand the missing details. For a lot of roles making decisions it benefits them to ignore the details unless it really bites them
Izkata 2mo ago
> Or reducing meeting load. Well, I expect when you've vibed too much and lost track of the code, and can't answer questions in meetings anymore, you'll stop getting invited to them.
- griffiths 2mo ago
  How often do you talk about low code details in the meetings? It is mostly about requirements and goals (IMHO) and "architecture"/design, and now I wouldn't even bother my peers with questions about the code as I can let AI tell me how things work exactly as written in the code, not some thing that someone remembers or thinks how it works (in large codebases, most developers only know in detail the things they are working on currently or from recent history)
  - otabdeveloper4 2mo ago
    > It is mostly about requirements and goals and architecture/design People vibe code because they have no clue about any of that. Not because they're slow typers.
therealdrag0 2mo ago
It certainly helps as a research assistant for design work. But it can’t do it for you.
01100011 2mo ago
It helps me. Case in point, I recently had a API refactoring project that was 80% busywork and only a small amount of code. It's crap work, but it has to be done and it's part of my role. I told AI to generate the initial design doc. It took it upon itself to reference the local headers on my system and found some APIs that should be included that I hadn't even considered would also need to be touched for consistency. It saved me hours typing up the doc, requirements, test plan, etc and then saved me embarrassment by preventing me from making a stupid oversight on a tedious and boring task.
- thewhitetulip 2mo ago
  AI is helpful in such projects. Less so in other projects where design is heavy
lilbigdoot 2mo ago
Anecdotally I find them helpful for design and I don't find them nearly as helpful for coding (strange, given others experiences reported online) I am working on a compiler for an OCaml inspired language (I am on a sabbatical) and used them a lot in the early phases to check my ideas and search for prior work. I use them less now (mostly debugging at this point), but have made use of LLMs to write some pieces like source map generation, a couple of small and well known algorithms that were new to me, and an analyzer to dump a schema from a typescript module. Other times I've tried to use it for other things, I have ended up regretting it because of subtle bugs I don't think it made the design phase any shorter but it definitely helped save me energy in researching and made that period feel less like a fever dream. Design phases can be draining for me so that was welcome

simonw 2mo ago

What kind of shape of evidence would you find convincing?

bluefirebrand 2mo ago
People working fewer hours :)
- kaashif 2mo ago
  Damn, looks like we have lower productivity than cavemen!
- keeda 2mo ago
  Sir, this is Capitalism.
unknownfuture 2mo ago
Self-reported or observational data capturing time spent for categories of task ala every other similar study in this space? This isn't exactly novel territory, here, Simon. Let's not pretend I'm asking for something strange, unprecedented, or unreasonable.
- simonw 2mo ago
  How's this? https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/13/datasette-code-frequency/ https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/13/datasette-code-frequen... I have similar charts across my three main open source projects: https://github.com/simonw/datasette/graphs/code-frequency https://github.com/simonw/datasette/graphs/code-frequency https://github.com/simonw/llm/graphs/code-frequency https://github.com/simonw/llm/graphs/code-frequency https://github.com/simonw/sqlite-utils/graphs/code-frequency https://github.com/simonw/sqlite-utils/graphs/code-frequency
  - qsera 2mo ago
    I don't think volume of code changed was the metric the other commenter was asking for.
    - deleted 2mo ago
      [deleted]
  - the_af 2mo ago
    Isn't this falling into the "lines of code" trap TFA mentions? More code written is not a good measure of productivity. It could be garbage, or redundant code, or simply not addressing the real or more pressing needs, it could be building the wrong thing, etc. Like TFA mentions, it's been known for decades LoC is a misleading metric for productivity. It's one of the lessons of software engineering.
    - simonw 2mo ago
      I'm planning an article at the moment in defense of lines of code. Saying "lines of code are a bad measurement" is too easy! It's about time someone presented an opposing argument. In my specific case, lines of code for my published open source projects is a metric that I trust, because I have high standards for those. I have plenty of other projects where I'll accept poor quality, unreviewed code (almost all of https://github.com/simonw/tools https://github.com/simonw/tools for example), but Datasette, sqlite-utils and LLM are not that. Of course, that's only useful for me personally and for people who trust me to stick to my own self-declared high standards!
      - otabdeveloper4 2mo ago
        > Lines of code are akshually a good metric now, because that's the only metric LLMs can optimize and I really, really, really love LLMs, they're the bee's knees. Really now?
        simonw 2mo ago

cuttothechase 2mo ago

[flagged]

mountainriver 2mo ago

It does because you can now just steamroll features out the door and make everyone look bad that’s sitting around in meetings all day

dgellow 2mo ago
Are you aware literally everyone else also has access to AI stuff? You’re not special for using an agent. You’re part of the crowd
- mountainriver 2mo ago
  Depends on where you work... where I happen to work people sit in Jira meetings all day and in the time they talk about it my team implements it. So yes "literally everyone has access to it" (what a revelation) but you still need to be smart in how you use it

sandeepkd 2mo ago

From the patterns I have seen people would tend to use the time to build demo's using AI instead of design and then have a back and forth on the demo itself. One has to consider the fact that demo's look more convincing/complete and give an impression that the design decision has been made. In some ways, how agile got rid of the need for explicit & detailed documentation, the AI created demo's will cut the requirements of high level designs too.

Exoristos 2mo ago
> demo's look more convincing/complete ... In the case of an LLM generated demo, usually deceptively so. > and give an impression that the design decision has been made. In the case of a vibed design, this is the opposite of useful for the team.
- sandeepkd 2mo ago
  The concept of MVP has been there for a while, it felt deceptive too and incurred lot of tech debt. However one would feel the deception only if they understand the missing details. For a lot of roles making decisions it benefits them to ignore the details unless it really bites them

Izkata 2mo ago

> Or reducing meeting load. Well, I expect when you've vibed too much and lost track of the code, and can't answer questions in meetings anymore, you'll stop getting invited to them.

griffiths 2mo ago
How often do you talk about low code details in the meetings? It is mostly about requirements and goals (IMHO) and "architecture"/design, and now I wouldn't even bother my peers with questions about the code as I can let AI tell me how things work exactly as written in the code, not some thing that someone remembers or thinks how it works (in large codebases, most developers only know in detail the things they are working on currently or from recent history)
- otabdeveloper4 2mo ago
  > It is mostly about requirements and goals and architecture/design People vibe code because they have no clue about any of that. Not because they're slow typers.

therealdrag0 2mo ago

It certainly helps as a research assistant for design work. But it can’t do it for you.

01100011 2mo ago

It helps me. Case in point, I recently had a API refactoring project that was 80% busywork and only a small amount of code. It's crap work, but it has to be done and it's part of my role. I told AI to generate the initial design doc. It took it upon itself to reference the local headers on my system and found some APIs that should be included that I hadn't even considered would also need to be touched for consistency. It saved me hours typing up the doc, requirements, test plan, etc and then saved me embarrassment by preventing me from making a stupid oversight on a tedious and boring task.

thewhitetulip 2mo ago
AI is helpful in such projects. Less so in other projects where design is heavy

lilbigdoot 2mo ago

Anecdotally I find them helpful for design and I don't find them nearly as helpful for coding (strange, given others experiences reported online) I am working on a compiler for an OCaml inspired language (I am on a sabbatical) and used them a lot in the early phases to check my ideas and search for prior work. I use them less now (mostly debugging at this point), but have made use of LLMs to write some pieces like source map generation, a couple of small and well known algorithms that were new to me, and an analyzer to dump a schema from a typescript module. Other times I've tried to use it for other things, I have ended up regretting it because of subtle bugs I don't think it made the design phase any shorter but it definitely helped save me energy in researching and made that period feel less like a fever dream. Design phases can be draining for me so that was welcome