Author here. Wrote the "AI fatigue" post that was on HN a few weeks ago. This is the follow-up.
The short version: AI made code generation fast, but nobody invested in making code verification fast. The human became the bottleneck. That's what causes the fatigue.
The fix is backpressure, a systems engineering concept. Automated feedback (types, tests, linters, architectural rules) that catches agent mistakes before they reach you.
A few things I learned from talking to teams:
- One team cut their test suite from 15 min to 90 seconds specifically for agent iteration speed. Paid for itself in a week.
- Pre-commit hooks went from "annoying" to essential. Agents don't complain. Turn everything on.
- BoundaryML calls this "agentic backpressure" - they did a whole podcast on it. The Ralph Wiggum loop community builds workflows around the same idea.
- The post has a hierarchy (types > tests > linters > architectural rules > human review last) and a Monday-morning checklist.
Backpressure won't catch everything, an agent can pass every test and still be the wrong approach. But it reduces the noise so you can focus on the signal.
Curious what feedback loops you've built around your agents.
The short version: AI made code generation fast, but nobody invested in making code verification fast. The human became the bottleneck. That's what causes the fatigue.
The fix is backpressure, a systems engineering concept. Automated feedback (types, tests, linters, architectural rules) that catches agent mistakes before they reach you.
A few things I learned from talking to teams:
- One team cut their test suite from 15 min to 90 seconds specifically for agent iteration speed. Paid for itself in a week.
- Pre-commit hooks went from "annoying" to essential. Agents don't complain. Turn everything on.
- BoundaryML calls this "agentic backpressure" - they did a whole podcast on it. The Ralph Wiggum loop community builds workflows around the same idea.
- The post has a hierarchy (types > tests > linters > architectural rules > human review last) and a Monday-morning checklist.
Backpressure won't catch everything, an agent can pass every test and still be the wrong approach. But it reduces the noise so you can focus on the signal.
Curious what feedback loops you've built around your agents.