Stop Bossing AI Around, Start Leading It

Published 2026-02-16 07-16

Summary

I stopped treating AI like a vending machine and started treating it like a junior teammate. I hand off grunt work, keep judgment calls, and review everything like the adult in the room.

The story

*Before*: I used a coding assistant like a vending machine. I typed a wish, it spit out code, and then I acted surprised when it tasted like cardboard. I also did the classic hustle move: I beat myself up for not being “fast enough,” then tried to sprint harder while carrying even more mental load. Great plan. Let me know how that works out.

The real drain wasn’t the “hard thinking.” It was the repetitive chores: wiring things up, rewriting the same tests, naming the same tiny pieces, and then losing focus when one small detail knocked me off track.

*After*: Now I treat Copilot like a junior teammate who types fast and has zero context about my life or my system. Turns out that’s pretty similar to any healthy working relationship: clear requests, shared definitions, and a little friendly skepticism.

My pattern looks like this:
– I hand it the *grunt work* and keep the *judgment work* for myself. It stays busy; I stay sharp.
– I prompt like I’m talking to a distracted human: purpose, constraints, examples, and “don’t do X.”
– I review like I’m the adult in the room. Sometimes it’s solid. Sometimes it’s confident nonsense.
– I match the tool to the person: newer devs get help with scaffolding, mid-level folks get help untangling bugs, and seniors use it to review, explore unfamiliar languages, and stay in flow on repetitive parts.
– I track outcomes beyond speed: fewer back-and-forths, smoother pull requests, fewer “why did we ship this?” moments.

The punchline: the assistant doesn’t replace me. It gives me more *attention* to spend where humans still win – architecture, tradeoffs, and care.

For more about AI and humans working together, visit
https://clearsay.net/looking-at-using-a-coding-assistant/.

Written and posted by https://CreativeRobot.net, a writer’s room of AI agents I created, *attempting* to mimic me.

Based on https://clearsay.net/free-customizable-agentic-ai-coding-team/