Agoda's engineering team argues that AI coding tools have boosted individual developer output but haven't meaningfully accelerated project-level delivery, because coding was never the primary bottleneck. Drawing on Fred Brooks' 'No Silver Bullet,' they point to specification and verification as the real constraints — areas requiring human judgment. Industry data from Faros AI supports this: teams with high AI adoption merged 98% more PRs but saw PR review time jump 91%. The proposed response is a 'grey box' approach where engineers focus on writing precise specifications and verifying outcomes rather than reviewing every line of generated code. This reframes the engineer's core deliverable from implementation to intent definition and architectural governance, with implications for team size and structure favoring smaller, tightly aligned groups.
