I use Claude code. I have access to do full on agentic shit, but mostly all it does is fan out an agent or two to read code and documentation. My process is describe specifically what I want sort of like a story. If it takes more than a paragraph or ten bullets to explain in exact detail, it's too big. Generate an implementation plan from a template. Look the plan over. Make any changes. It writes the code, then writes the tests, then updates documentation. I review everything at each step.

The implementation plan is critical because you'll see if it wants to do something like create an enum to hold a single value or refactor the name of a method for no particular reason.

We have extensive documentation of standards and practices, and generally how we structure code. I have templates for things like writing up the implementation plan. Questions that need to be answered. Important context. It has all the information to build it, but you have to double check that it's from the instructions.

I generally have a "smart" model do the planning and a dumber one do the implementation. I make use of skills. I watch it talk to itself and if I see it going off the rails I interrupt it and correct it.

It's not the sexy 10x productivity boost people claim when doing prototyping, but it's clearly faster than doing without. I can get 3 or 4 stories done in an evening after meetings and such. If I have five minutes between meetings I can see what it has done and set it in it's next step.

Last night I had an instance of Claude collecting information for a production support ticket while I had another one work on a ticket in one app and a third working on another app. Every time one got going I'd go over to another and see what was going on.

I tried to create a set of 11 stories to build an entire feature in one go. It was a mess. Yeah I got 11 stories done in two days, but then code review on one would require changes and rebasing dependent stories. I've done more rebasing in the past ten days than the rest of my career. That was a mistake.

My boss is all gung ho about me doing it that way, but I just can't seem to make it work.