Automation is not new in software development. We’ve been automating parts of our process for decades - build pipelines, testing, deployments. With AI, we’re now able to automate work that previously required humans with specialised skills to do by hand - specifically, the writing of the code. In other words, AI is enabling us to automate a larger portion of the job that software engineers used to do themselves. This post is a companion to my opening keynote at Agentic Engineering Day in Auckland on 22 October 2026, The Accidental Rise of the Supervisory Engineer (slides). I’ll share the recording...