Scaling Your Team’s IQ: Why “Boring” Conventions Are the Prerequisite for Exciting AI
Every senior developer I know cares about autonomy. You’ve spent years mastering your craft. You want the freedom to solve problems your way. I get it.
But here’s the tension: The business needs consistency. Not because it wants to kill creativity, but because we now have more to gain from order than ever before.
This isn’t another plea for “clean code.” The rules of the game have changed. AI is part of our workflow. AI tools like Copilot or automated code review thrive on structure. When every file has its own rules, AI falls flat. An inconsistent codebase is chaos—for humans and AI.
But when you standardize, something new happens. You unlock real shortcuts. Automated reviews start making sense. AI can generate boilerplate, flag problems, write tests, and handle the grunt work you hate. You spend less time debating folder structures and more time pushing the product forward.
You want to work on hard problems? Give yourself, and your future AI teammate, a codebase you both can read.
Stop fighting the conventions. Build the foundation. That’s how you free yourself to do your best work.