The real challenge of AI coding? Production.

Bill Doerrfeld | May 30, 2025

The May 2025 edition of DirectorPlus explores how DevOps needs to respond to the AI coding revolution.


Using AI to generate code is the easy part. Now it's time to focus on production, says honeycomb.io CTO Charity Majors. "The combination of AI and production – there’s the real potential."


In the latest edition of LeadDev's DirectorPlus series — Is AI code sabotaging its own ROI case? — we dig into what that means. In essence, DevOps, though less en vogue, needs to level up for this new AI paradigm.


That means faster feedback loops, reinforcing code ownership, and not letting fundamental coding practices slip.


Really enjoyed syncing with Charity for this — she's a wealth of knowledge and brings a strong SRE/DevOps perspective to the conversation around AI in software development.


 Definitely don’t miss this one!


Featured image credit: Jakob Owens via Unsplash.


Read: Is AI code sabotaging its own ROI case?

Sign up to the DirectorPlus newsletter for a new story in your inbox each month featuring on-the-ground insights from some of the industry's top engineering leaders. Or, if you would like to be featured in the series, please read this.

Man speaking at
By Bill Doerrfeld December 2, 2025
Excited to share my talk from Nordic APIs' Platform Summit 2025. As the opening talk of the event, I wanted to address the elephant in the room head-on: MCP.
Panel discussion on stage with five speakers and audience in front of a blue screen with speaker names.
By Bill Doerrfeld December 1, 2025
Watch all the great API talks, keynotes, and panel discussions from this year's Nordic APIs Platform Summit, now available on YouTube.
Open source flag leaddev directorplus doerrfeld Block
By Bill Doerrfeld November 28, 2025
Block's open source initiative is helping to build brand reputation, attract talent, boost partnerships, guide internal open source best practices, and aid long-term system reliability.
How CIOs are getting a return from AI
By Bill Doerrfeld November 26, 2025
Achieving ROI with AI requires a mix of strong leadership stewardship upfront, shifting the talent framework, and embedding proper monitoring and governance throughout the lifecycle.
Knowledge base for AI agents
By Bill Doerrfeld November 24, 2025
I recently explored what goes into creating a solid AI agent knowledge base — from the types of data it should contain to the retrieval mechanisms and architecture patterns that support reliable agentic behavior.
linkedin ai assistant hiring agent
By Bill Doerrfeld October 31, 2025
I recently spoke with LinkedIn VP of Engineering Prashanthi Padmanabhan about the making of their Hiring Assistant, an agent recruiters are using to optimize the applicant selection process.
How to fail at platfom engineering
By Bill Doerrfeld October 22, 2025
How do you fail at platform engineering? Make it 100% UI-first. Don't market it. Survey no one. Measure success by who's onboarded. And just copy what others are doing.
Platform summit conference nordic apis stockholm bill doerrfeld
By Bill Doerrfeld October 21, 2025
This year's Platform Summit felt reinvigorated, with many new motivations and areas to discuss. Of course, AI agents and MCP stole the show.
Colorful hot air balloons against a bright blue sky.
By Bill Doerrfeld September 26, 2025
For my latest DirectorPlus edition, I interviewed Thomas Johnson, co-founder and CTO of Multiplayer, about lessons learned releasing their MCP server.
Abstract blue web-like structure, possibly fabric, with a shimmering effect.
By Bill Doerrfeld September 23, 2025
Explore whether vector native databases outperform traditional DBs with vector add-ons for AI. Learn use cases, tradeoffs, and expert insights.