How I use AI coding tools without letting them think for me

Description and use

<p>I use AI tools a lot. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. My Whiteboard.ai project, for example, was built with Claude Code under written engineering rules and a plan-then-approve loop, and that's stated plainly in its case study.</p> <p>But I've had to set rules for myself, because I noticed a specific failure mode: <strong>I can ship something I don't understand.</strong> That's the real risk of AI tools, and it isn't about quality of output. It's about what happens to <em>me</em> if the tool does all the thinking.</p> <p>Here are the rules, where AI helps, where it quietly hurts, and one

Problem

<p>I use AI tools a lot. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. My Whiteboard.ai project, for example, was built with Claude Code under written engineering rules and a plan-then-approve loop, and that's stated plainly in its case study.</p> <p>But I've had to set rules for myself, because I noticed a specific failure mode: <strong>I can ship something I don't understand.</strong> That's the real risk of AI tools, and it isn't about quality of output. It's about what happens to <em>me</em> if the tool does all the thinking.</p> <p>Here are the rules, where AI helps, where it quietly hurts, and one

Outcome

<p>I use AI tools a lot. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. My Whiteboard.ai project, for example, was built with Claude Code under written engineering rules and a plan-then-approve loop, and that's stated plainly in its case study.</p> <p>But I've had to set rules for myself, because I noticed a specific failure mode: <strong>I can ship something I don't understand.</strong> That's the real risk of AI tools, and it isn't about quality of output. It's about what happens to <em>me</em> if the tool does all the thinking.</p> <p>Here are the rules, where AI helps, where it quietly hurts, and one

Evidence

How I use AI coding tools without letting them think for me

Source