Lada Kesseler: I Trust AI Tests Less Than AI Code

Lada Kesseler's approach to loop engineering is brutally simple: give the agent one step, make it write the result to a file, then read it back and go again. She calls it a centrifuge. Spin fast enough and the stupid comes out.

The Logic20/20 principal engineer has spent the last year and a half building the ground rules, skills and refinement loops that fight the defaults coding agents ship with, starting with an instruction to stop trying to please her. Along the way she explains why she trusts AI-written tests less than AI-written code, why the description field in an agent skill was never meant for humans, and why most teams chasing a software factory are about to drown in garbage.

What we cover:
– Why agent ground rules have to give the model a mission to disagree with you
– The refinement loop that gets to quality when the first attempt never does
– Why an agent harness only works if it does one thing at a time
– Sketch prototypes: replacing your code with a markdown file and an agent
– Why AI-generated tests are more dangerous than AI-generated code
– Software factories, and what happens when you try to switch into one overnight

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Chapters:
00:00:00 - Introduction
00:03:38 - Using AI for everything, not just code
00:06:15 - Ground rules: fixing the defaults agents ship with
00:10:02 - Agent skills and why the description isn't for humans
00:13:09 - Loop engineering: how you actually get to quality
00:16:03 - The biggest misconception about coding agents
00:20:43 - Sketch prototypes and the limits of AI architecture
00:27:48 - Reverse direction: you are the decider
00:31:58 - Why she trusts AI tests less than AI code
00:35:00 - Software factories, or drowning in garbage

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Where are you on the loop engineering curve, still hoping for a good first try or already spinning? Tell us in the comments.