Email: This classic programming technique is AWESOME with AI

Subject:
This classic programming technique is AWESOME with AI
Received:
3/5/2026, 7:25:28 PM
From:
"Matt Pocock (AI Hero)" <matt@aihero.dev>
To:
porch.hat.81@rss.andrealin.it
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&lt;p class="" style="margin:1em 0;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif;color:#2d2d2f;font-size:16px;line-height:1.5"&gt;Hey Andrea,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="" style="margin:1em 0;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif;color:#2d2d2f;font-size:16px;line-height:1.5"&gt;Here's a question: Have you ever asked an AI to build something and ended up with a massive pile of code that doesn't actually work?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="" style="margin:1em 0;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif;color:#2d2d2f;font-size:16px;line-height:1.5"&gt;It happens to all of us. The AI gets excited, builds out entire layers all at once – databases, APIs, authentication, logging, the works – and then nothing connects properly. It's like the AI was driving with its headlights off, building in the dark without any feedback loops.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="" style="margin:1em 0;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif;color:#2d2d2f;font-size:16px;line-height:1.5"&gt;There's a classic technique from &lt;em&gt;The Pragmatic Programmer&lt;/em&gt; that solves this problem: &lt;strong&gt;tracer bullets&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="" style="margin:1em 0;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif;color:#2d2d2f;font-size:16px;line-height:1.5"&gt;Instead of letting the AI sprawl out horizontally, you get it to build one tiny vertical slice end-to-end. Test it. Get feedback. Then move to the next slice. Repeat.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="" style="margin:1em 0;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif;color:#2d2d2f;font-size:16px;line-height:1.5"&gt;It sounds simple, but it fundamentally changes how you work with AI agents. The discipline forces real validation instead of hopeful assumptions.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="" style="margin:1em 0;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif;color:#2d2d2f;font-size:16px;line-height:1.5"&gt;In this week's article, I break down exactly what's happening when AI produces "slop," show you the tracer bullet technique in action, and give you a concrete prompt you can use right now to force your AI to think small.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="" style="margin:1em 0;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif;color:#2d2d2f;font-size:16px;line-height:1.5"&gt;It's a short read, but it'll shift how you approach building with AI.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="" style="margin:1em 0;font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,'Segoe UI',Roboto,Oxygen-Sans,Ubuntu,Cantarell,'Helvetica Neue',sans-serif;color:#2d2d2f;font-size:16px;line-height:1.5"&gt;&lt;a href="https://7751c435.click.kit-mail3.com/lmulw0m9kkc6u0v3kopa6h8vm3w8qigh77eel/vqh3hmuolm2l6lcg/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYWloZXJvLmRldi90cmFjZXItYnVsbGV0cw==" target="_blank" class="ck-link" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color:#0875c1" url-id="1835725214"&gt;Read the full article →&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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