Thoughts, Tools and Programs
Determinism and other puzzles of the AI age
Software Testers in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Synopsis of a speech given at CAST 2026 – Conference of the Association of Software Testers
Nobody wanted your darn code anyway
A little secret about software engineering is out. “Nobody wanted your darn code anyway.”
What did they want? The client has in mind a system. They have a vision of the final product. And way back at the beginning they recognized some vague requirements. All the time after this early, rough design, all they just wanted was to move from requirements to the final product. They never wanted the code.
These days, now that AI can write code, it exposes us software engineers. We were just the middle man. And what do we know about middle men? Sometimes they are expendable. Think of the upheavals in the travel industry at the dawn of the internet age. And often, the role of the middleman will be forced to evolve.
Milton Friedman, the economist, had both a kind and not so kind appraisal of middlemen in a free market economy. I suggest you read his thoughts. Sometimes middlemen are a necessary, important force in a network. And sometimes they are just parasites adding no value. Or, both.
I have a few observations about my fellow programmers. At worst we were paid too much, insubordinate, or insolent.
A software engineer might have said, “You want that feature? OK, sure I will get to it as soon as I finish this refactoring.” Time passes. “Oh, it looks like we ran out of time. Do you want that new feature or for me to fix the system that I broke with my refactoring?” Coercion is the kind name for this power play, “Take it or leave it.”
Some software engineers thought that they ran the show. Thought they were the ones in charge. Project managers have a name for this type of engineer.
I used to think I was an extra special tester because I have been writing code my whole career starting in 1967. I had stints in management but it was the creative task of writing code that floated my boat. I still write code all the time. But for the last three years I have let Claude do the rough draft. I ask Claude and then read through that code. Truth be told, Claude’s code is very good. I find myself saying – “Ah, nice work. I never thought of coding that way. I just learned something.” I am still writing code but no longer starting from an empty file.
My typical work as an independent consultant is to meet with the team and start with the question, “What do you want to know about your system?”. Then I would design some experiments, build the apparatus, turn the crank, and return with the results. Days pass and we repeat the cycle. Now the iterative cycle lasts hours. But as a professional tester much of my dance remains the same.
Hung Nguyen tells me that in one of his classes he teaches that AI is transformative. He is on to an important truth. In a true transformation three things are cardinal:
1. You must do the work, no one can do it for you.
2. Change will be painful. The road must be cleared of obstacles.
3. The end is liberation. It is shedding the old as well as wearing the new.
I have discussed this secret with my old friends that live and breathe open source. Coding is their life. In their world, Unix, leading edge technologies and github are everything. They are experiencing the sea change just like us testers. What can we learn from the open source community during these times?
Finally, the operative word in the title of this lightning talk is not the word “Code’. Nope. In the title, “Nobody wanted your …”, the key word “Your”. The pedigree of the code is not important. I say to myself, Scott, spend less time futzing with your code. There is so much to learn. Spend time on other adventures with your new best friend and teacher, Artificial Intelligence. You and your clients will be better off.
Thank you.