Why Software Development Is Changing For Good
CIO, Thursday, May 28th, 2026
AI has fundamentally changed software development by making experimentation cheap and fast, enabling former developers to return to coding in a new way.
Nick Thompson, a former CEO who stopped coding a decade ago, describes how AI has fundamentally transformed software development by dramatically reducing the cost and time of experimentation.
Rather than traditional code-writing, he now works more like a team manager - directing, reviewing, and refining AI-generated code while handling complex problem-solving and system design.
Clear design thinking has become more important than ever, but as a guide for exploration rather than a brittle constraint, requiring experienced developers to judge when to stop exploration and simplify.
This shift means planning, estimation, and the relationship with code itself have all changed, making the old waterfall and even traditional Agile models increasingly obsolete.