AI Assistants: Time to Be Honest, and Lessons Learned

Short summary

The author shares lessons from learning to use AI for software projects: rushing into AI-assisted coding without understanding requirements wasted time and money. Success came only after conducting proper research and understanding the full problem scope. Key insight: AI delivers exactly what you request, not necessarily what you need—deep problem understanding is prerequisite for effective tool use.

• •Understanding the problem thoroughly must precede asking AI for solutions
• •Skipping research to shortcut with AI wastes time and money
• •Productivity requires upfront research, planning, and problem definition before tool use

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.