Requiem for a 10x Engineer Dream

A developer's critical examination of AI coding tools like Claude Code reveals that promised 10x productivity gains are largely overstated. Despite detailed specifications and careful prompting, the author found that effective use requires such micromanagement that you're essentially programming in Markdown rather than saving time. The tools struggle with autonomous problem-solving, often generating overcomplicated solutions and requiring constant supervision. The experience parallels failed promises of past code generation tools, suggesting that the real challenge in software development isn't specification but discovering what to build while building it.