When writing code is no longer the bottleneck

"After I wrote the loom article last week, it occurred to me that the process of software development is no different. And thus, to improve it, we should find the bottleneck, figure out a way to make it no longer the bottleneck, and repeat. And it seems obvious to me that the actual coding of the application is the narrow, high-pressure point in the software development pipeline."

"In a process full of friction, writing the code is usually the bottleneck that determines when a project gets finished. So what happens if writing code ceases to be the bottleneck? Well, I think we are just about there with agentic coding, no? For the sake of argument, and to keep this column rolling, let's assume that such is the case. Let's take it as granted that writing code becomes something that happens over days and weeks, and not weeks, months, or even years."

Process improvement follows identifying the bottleneck, removing or mitigating it, then repeating the cycle. The narrow, high-pressure point in the software development pipeline is the actual coding of the application. Friction throughout the process concentrates on writing code, which typically determines project completion timelines. Agentic coding threatens to eliminate that bottleneck by automating or accelerating code writing. If writing code ceases to be the bottleneck, development timelines compress from months or years to days or weeks. For the purposes of planning, assume code writing becomes a short-phase activity rather than the dominant time sink.

Read at InfoWorld