Robert Stowe

Robert Stowe

@robertstowe.com

Web development manager. Plain opinions on web software, the engineers who build it, and how AI is changing it all. More at robertstowe.com

6 followers28 following24 posts

Pinned

Robert Stowe
@robertstowe.com

I put together a starter pack of the people I read on leading engineering teams, design systems, accessibility and the web platform.

Robert Stowe
@robertstowe.com

When you start managing managers, I think the biggest change is that you stop seeing the work. Your job becomes the judgment of the people who do. https://robertstowe.com/what-i-believe-changes-when-you-start-managing-managers/ #EngineeringManagement #EngineeringLeadership

robertstowe.comWhat I believe changes when you start managing managersWhat I believe changes when you move from managing engineers to managing managers, and what I think success looks like at that level.
Robert Stowe
@robertstowe.com

Across 600 AI-written test suites, 42.7% had no test separating two readings of the spec. I think that choice belongs to a person, not the model. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.03237v1 #AICodingTools #SoftwareTesting

arxiv.orgPinning Decisions Before Failure: Executable Records of Underspecified Choices in AI-Assisted Code GenerationA natural-language requirement leaves questions open, and a model asked to implement it settles them silently: across 600 generated test suites from three models, 42.7% contain no test that distinguishes the competing readings. An acceptance example written before implementing is the usual remedy, but an example both readings satisfy resolves nothing. We insert two steps into that practice: enumerate the requirement's underspecified points by name, then for each construct two throwaway implementations differing only in that point and keep a candidate input only if executing both shows they disagree. The result is recorded as a decision pin: the named point, the confirmed input, and the value the person chose between the two exhibited results. The same record then constrains generation and decides compliance by execution. On a benchmark of 40 tasks with paired reference implementations and two models, a separating input is obtained for 92.5% of decision points and a pin identifying the intended decision for 85-90%. As checks on 703 independently generated implementations, pins agree with the benchmark's classification on 96-97%, with disagreements on three tasks, one where both classifiers erred. As generation constraints, pins are honoured at the pinned input in all 210 generations and are never worse than a prose rule on held-out inputs in 38 cells, though no better than prose stating the same scope. Every compliance failure under a prose rule came from the model deciding the rule's scope itself; one such case silently overturned another recorded decision, was attributed to a single rule by leave-one-out on both models, and was missed by text-level reconciliation but caught by re-running the recorded input. The setting yields too few such conflicts to evaluate a regression step, and we say why.
Robert Stowe
@robertstowe.com

A review of 284 studies found architecture decay is easy to detect and poorly linked to fixes. I think teams need owners for findings, not more metrics. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.01611v1 #SoftwareArchitecture #LegacyModernization

arxiv.orgArchitectural Degradation: How to Measure and to RemediateContext. Architectural degradation undermines software maintainability, evolvability, and quality. However, existing research remains fragmented across measurement approaches, metrics, tools, and remediation strategies, limiting our understanding of how these elements relate across the degradation lifecycle. Aim. We consolidate the state of the art on architectural degradation by examining how researchers measure it, which metrics and tools support its assessment, and how existing approaches address remediation. Method. We conducted a Multivocal Literature Review of 284 peer-reviewed and grey-literature studies. We supported screening, data extraction, and classification with a locally executed LLM-assisted pipeline combining Retrieval-Augmented Generation, multi-model validation, and human adjudication. We then analyzed the resulting taxonomies and their cross-dimensional relationships. Results and Conclusions. We identified 277 measurement approaches, 357 metrics, 238 tools, and 395 remediation approaches. Research strongly concentrates on static and structural analysis, structural metrics, and detection-oriented tools. In contrast, remediation spans heterogeneous code-level, architectural, and organizational interventions and shows substantially less consolidation. Overall, the field has developed a mature diagnostic apparatus but has made less progress in connecting degradation detection with effective remediation. Our results provide a structured view of the available techniques and identify the diagnosis-remediation gap as a key direction for future research.
Robert Stowe
@robertstowe.com

Most technical standards are written once, read twice, and ignored. I think the ones teams follow are short, give reasons, are enforced by tooling, and have an owner. https://robertstowe.com/writing-technical-standards-people-follow/ #TechnicalStandards #EngineeringLeadership

robertstowe.comWriting technical standards people followMost technical standards are written once, read twice, and ignored. What separates the ones teams follow: short, reasoned, enforced by tooling, and owned.

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