So, you want to be an AI builder? Part 2: Spec-Driven Development (SDD)

Last week, I blogged about being a builder and getting your computer setup. But before you go off to the races and start agentic coding, we need to be sure you have a collaboration model setup with your team. Your chat history is stored locally and cannot be viewed by your peers to “keep up.” At the same time, while development may be faster now, producing more features that don’t move the needle and are hard to maintain is an anti-goal; that is how you end up with a confusing product like Jira instead of a product grounded in strategy.

If you want to run fast, run alone. If you want to run far, run together.

So, you want to be an AI builder? Part 1: Get your computer setup

Last week, I blogged about PMs becoming “AI builders.” Step 1 to enable this? Getting your local development environment setup. Note that I have completed this both on Windows and Mac. In 2026, with Powershell + IDEs like VSCode, development in Windows is doable! However, Mac & Linux still reign supreme for development; I recommend the switch for this role if you are on Windows today.

Do we need to change how we work? What AI native teams look like.

Every day, there are new articles sharing that organizational models and ways of working must change in our new AI-enabled world. If this is actually happening, then what does this actually mean or look like in terms of how we work together in the modern era? That’s what this post will explore!

AI is great, but the slop problem is real

Say it with me: AI is tool, not an outcome. What matters are outcomes.

You know what nobody asked for? More low-quality Product Requirements Documents (PRDs). This is what the slop problem has created though, ironically decreasing overall organizational efficiency for the only thing that matters: speed to delivery. Everyone is so focused on improving their own personal efficiency they’ve lost sight of what matters: the organizational efficiency.

Read the post to avoid common traps and level up your approach to using AI in your daily workflow.