Constrain the agent, not the user

Patrick Nadeau at Autodesk Research argues that spec-writing discipline puts the burden on the wrong side: build constraints into the agent’s environment instead. He sorts them into three kinds: generative (tests, and especially test oracles that compare against a reference implementation), interpretive (give the agent a debugger so it can test its hypotheses about existing code), and elicitative (have it interview stakeholders to resolve ambiguity before implementing). The common thread is grounding the agent’s output in an external source of truth.

Same instinct as Uncle Bob’s gauntlet of constraints, but engineered into the system rather than bolted on.