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Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by well_ackshually on Monday May 25, 2026 @09:57PM (#48274088)
congratulations on your soon to be coming burnout.

Keeping that many tasks in parallel, running all the time will kill you.

Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by speff on Monday May 25, 2026 @10:31PM (#48274306)
I suppose it depends how hands-off the tasks are - I max out at 2 parallel sessions working on different parts and it's fairly exhausting once done. I can see the number of parallel work increasing if there's a good dev/test loop. But at $WORK, that's not usually an option.
Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by rootnod3 on Monday May 25, 2026 @10:35PM (#48274332)
So, hands-off meaning "just let the AI cook and don't check it"?

Either you follow everything it does, revise the plans, do the code review, manual adjustments, etc, or you run sessions in parallel, not being that attentive and constantly context-switch (also resulting in less attention I guess).

I fail to see the benefits honestly.

Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by DonHopkins on Monday May 25, 2026 @10:50PM (#48274420)
It's great to work from home so you can take nice little micro naps while code's generating, reviewing, building, and deploying.

A calm attentive alternative of vibe coding: restful coding.

It's much easier to read and review code after a refreshing cat nap, especially with a real cat.

Too bad that's not usually acceptable to do that in the office. It should be! Slacking off by sword fighting all day is too exhausting.

https://xkcd.com/303/

Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by baq on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @03:40AM (#48276406)
Nap while you can. The baseline is slowly raising; AI fed with organization context will hunt you down and lay you off, as it has done at multiple companies this spring already.
Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by blharr on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @12:36PM (#48282105)
I mean, I didn't read it as a joke. Taking a rest can lead to a clearer ability to think... thereby being more productive, not less.
Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by baq on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @03:21PM (#48284638)
For the record I took it 100% seriously, having been wfh since covid I’ve taken more than one nap during ‘work hours’ myself… I’m saying ‘spin up an agent and go for a long walk’ being ok is close to over and it’s over in some companies already - and it isn’t because they’re monitoring what you’re doing, it’s that they know what is possible from those few folks who don’t go for walks and spin up more agents instead.
Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by locknitpicker on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @01:05AM (#48275231)
> congratulations on your soon to be coming burnout.

Multitasking does not mean burnout. It just means you are not wasting time while idling. Multitasking was not invented for AI coding assistants. What do you think feature branches are used for?

Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by well_ackshually on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @01:34AM (#48275414)
The constant context changes, mental overload, inability to focus on one thing and do it well is exactly what every software developer has been fighting against for the past thirty years because it leads to shit quality and burns you out. You're automating the burnout. Idling is a necessity, not an illness.

Your feature branch is to put things aside and send them to CI, or wait and think on them. Not to have four of them running in parallel in your head frying you.

Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by locknitpicker on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @02:34AM (#48275863)
> The constant context changes, (...)

After you put together a plan, today's models can take well over a minute to execute it. Also, your work shifts to code review and executing acceptance tests, followed by either tweaking your current change or moving on to the next change.

This is really not about context changes. This is about not having to switch contexts because your focus stays on architecture+review instead of having to do deep dives to type code around.

> Your feature branch is to put things aside and send them to CI, or wait and think on them.

No, not really. Feature branches, as well as most types of branches, is to set aside work fronts that are in progress and run in parallel.

Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by well_ackshually on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @02:44AM (#48275945)
>today's models can take well over a minute to execute it.

A full, whole, entire _minute_ ?! Sixty seconds ! Oh no, they must be optimized away, we do not deserve our free time like so, we should toil until we fall over because... Growth?

It's still context switching. Either what you're doing is surface enough that you don't give a shit, it doesn't matter and you don't review it anyways (so the only context is basically the prompt you wrote or the nth SELECT * FROM table CRUD piece of crap), or you're context switching and it's fucking you over. The context isn't about remembering how you write if err != nil, it's the expected behaviour of what you're working on.

You're not getting a promotion from doing this, you're getting burnout.

> Feature branches, as well as most types of branches, is to set aside work fronts that are in progress and run in parallel

They're not running in parallel, unless you use work trees. They were put to the side, because you can't continue or finish the work they're about. Even just three branches in parallel in a modestly active repo that happen to be long lived drift enough that just keeping them up to date with develop makes it a waste of time.

Focus on one or two things, and do them well.

That, or get checked for ADHD.

Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by danielbln on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @03:01AM (#48276114)
Don't be so dismissive. Every person is different, and you struggling with multitasking doesn't mean everyone is.
Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by gabble on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @09:16AM (#48279423)
From [1]

The scientific study of multitasking over the past few decades has revealed important principles about the operations, and processing limitations, of our minds and brains. One critical finding to emerge is that we inflate our perceived ability to multitask: there is little correlation with our actual ability. In fact, multitasking is almost always a misnomer, as the human mind and brain lack the architecture to perform two or more tasks simultaneously. By architecture, we mean the cognitive and neural building blocks and systems that give rise to mental functioning. We have a hard time multitasking because of the ways that our building blocks of attention and executive control inherently work. To this end, when we attempt to multitask, we are usually switching between one task and another. The human brain has evolved to single task.

[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7075496/

Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by danielbln on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @09:20AM (#48279481)
Fair enough, so it's a misnomer. Let's call it task switching then, since we don't actually do tasks at the same time, but switch from one to the other. A Claude Code session helpfully prints a small tldr summary of the ongoing session, so that one can quickly onboard again to the task at hand. I do not find that draining, personally.
Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by locknitpicker on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @06:58AM (#48277975)
> A full, whole, entire _minute_ ?!

If you honestly had any concern about loosing focus and being forced to context switch, a 1 minute pause idling while waiting for something to happen would represent the root cause of your context switch problems.

Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by exe34 on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @02:16AM (#48275710)
> What do you think feature branches are used for?

Yak driven development.

Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by surajrmal on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @09:11AM (#48279352)
If you have ever TL'd a team, it doesn't sound too crazy. I have 8 folks I generally talk to very consistently throughout the day. If I'm not in 1:1s with them I'm usually reviewing their changes or chatting with them over chat. I don't think I can do all of that and work with a bunch of AI windows, but I do think they could likely do something similar to me with several agents running in parallel.
Re:Using AI to write better code more slowly by well_ackshually on Tuesday May 26, 2026 @10:33AM (#48280403)
Your team members can be held "accountable" of the code they write: they can explain it, defend it in a PR, take ownership of it.

Your LLM has forgotten whatever shit it wrote when you opened a new tab, and that responsibility is now on you. And it wrote absolute dog shit