Better with Kent · draft

The claim

The things agents do for me today are the things I was doing myself months ago.

x.com/kentcdodds · Jul 10

And it continues

What I’m doing myself today, my agents will do for me in the future.

I keep finding new — higher leverage — things for me to do.

Better with Kent

Durable skills for people who ship software

Short one · how we travel with abstractions

Travel metaphor

Abstractions are vehicles

• Not only “hiding complexity”
• Each layer lets you go further with less hand-cranking
• You don’t live in the car forever

Travel metaphor

Traveling with abstractions = move up layers so your time buys more.

History

We’ve been doing this forever

Each layer’s “real work” became the next layer’s cargo.

History

Same pattern · faster cadence

Decades used to separate layers. Now it’s months.

History

The full timeline

flowchart LR
  a["asm"] --> b["languages"]
  b --> c["frameworks"]
  c --> d["cloud"]
  d --> e["agents"]
  e --> f["?"]

Every generation thought their layer was the permanent job.

Now

Agents = last quarter’s you

Not less valuable — a different layer.

Now

What you do today

• Taste and judgment
• Review loops and verification
• Picking the next problem

Higher leverage — not idle.

Now

If you’re still doing hand work agents can already do, you’re standing still on the timeline.

Future

Extend the arrow

flowchart LR
  you["you today"] --> agents["agents soon"]
  agents --> next["next vehicle"]

Whatever you do by hand today is next month’s agent work.

Future

Panic vs progress

• Panic = clinging to the last vehicle
• Progress = booking the next ticket
• Your job: find the next higher-leverage layer

Homework

This week

• List 3 things you still do by hand that agents almost can
• Hand off one — even messy
• Name the higher-leverage work that frees up (1 sentence)

Better with Kent

Climb · steer · keep traveling

• Don’t mourn the old layer
• Let agents drive the last stretch

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