Slow Quality

Today I read a short article about a small study that begins with the statement:

"The results surprised us: Developers thought they were 20% faster with AI tools, but they were actually 19% slower when they had access to AI than when they didn't."

The first thing that comes to mind is the obsession with speed. And I have to say it: I don’t want tools to go faster — I want tools that let me spend more time thinking, iterating, and improving my code. That’s exactly what I personally get from tools like ChatGPT and Copilot.

First, thanks to Copilot, I spend less time typing. This allows me to spend more time reviewing and exploring alternatives. It hurts less to try different approaches to the same problem and experiment. I might finish later, but the code I’ve written has gone through a much more thoughtful and rigorous process.

Second, thanks to ChatGPT, I have "rubber duck" conversations with a duck that talks back. I go from digging deeper into how the tech I’m using actually works — which improves my long-term skills (not faster, but I’m growing) — to challenging my decisions: “What do you think of this class?”, “Did I apply this pattern correctly?”, “Give me some alternatives for this function name.” I’m not coding faster, but I spend more time improving and learning.

I might be 20% slower, but it’s worth it.

To me, this is the responsible and desirable use of assisted (or augmented) programming: it’s not about coding less — it’s about coding better.

exit(0);