O11ycast Ep. #82, Automating Developer Toil with Morgante Pell of Grit
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May 28, 2025 Morgante Pell, the visionary behind Grit and now part of Honeycomb R&D, dives into the fascinating evolution of AI in coding. She discusses the challenges of deploying AI agents while managing user expectations and the importance of clear communication. Pell shares insights on integrating code awareness with production awareness, revealing how this can enhance development processes. The conversation also touches on the complexities of large language models in startups and the need for real-world data in testing, highlighting both skepticism and excitement among engineers.
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AI to Automate Developer Toil
- Morgante Pell founded Grit to automate developer toil and reduce technical debt using AI before ChatGPT launched.
- The goal was to save developers from tedious upgrades that customers often dislike doing themselves.
Early AI Was Like A Kindergartner
- Early AI models were like kindergartners that made many silly coding mistakes.
- Grit used static analysis to detect errors and prompt the AI to self-correct, providing vital guardrails for usability.
Set Clear Agent Instructions
- Give AI agents explicit instructions including file paths and success criteria.
- Define a clear "definition of done" to prevent agents from going beyond their task boundaries.