Code Like a Surgeon

When I sit down for a work session, I want to feel like a surgeon walking into a prepped operating room. Everything is ready for me to do what I’m good at.

Notably, there is a huge difference between how I use AI for primary vs secondary tasks.

For the core design prototyping work, I still do a lot of coding by hand, and when I do use AI, I’m more careful and in the details. I need fast feedback loops and good visibility. (eg, I like Cursor tab-complete here)

Whereas for secondary tasks, I’m much much looser with it, happy to let an agent churn for hours in the background. The ability to get the job done eventually is the most important thing; speed and visibility matter less. Claude Code has been my go-to for long unsupervised sessions but Codex CLI is becoming a strong contender there too, possibly my new favorite.

A lot of people say AI will make us all “managers” or “editors”…but I think this is a dangerously incomplete view!

Personally, I’m trying to code like a surgeon.