Thin Slices vs Story Points: Better Backlog Grooming for Engineering Teams

The Spec That Runs Your Whole Business

Everyone's talking about spec driven development — and almost everyone is thinking about it too narrowly. If your spec only describes what your engineering team needs to build, you're leaving most of its power on the table. In this episode, David Dieruf and Wael Rabadi challenge the AI coding community's definition of "spec" and make the case for holistic specification thinking that drives your entire business. What You'll Learn: * Why spec driven development as it's currently practiced is too narrow * How LLMs fill context gaps the same way humans do — and why that's not hallucination * Why BRD thinking and agile aren't mutually exclusive * How a holistic spec drives backlogs, architecture, marketing, and sales from a single source of truth * The regeneration power of AI when product direction changes from Feature A to Feature B * Why ubiquitous language across all teams is more critical than ever in the AI era * How the "multiplier effect" of centralized business context accelerates everything Key Insight: A spec isn't a technical artifact — it's a business artifact. When your entire organization shares the same context, AI doesn't just help you write code faster. It helps you change direction, regenerate plans, and move the whole business forward in days instead of months.

True Development in the AI Age: What It Means Beyond Writing Code

Is computer science a dying field now that AI can generate code? Are developers just becoming "code monkeys" who paste AI output into repositories? In this episode, David Dieruf and Wael Rabadi tackle these questions head-on and explore what true development actually means when AI handles the implementation grunt work. What You'll Learn: * What true development means beyond writing code * Why context and documentation are critical for effective AI pairing * How AI exposes the difference between code monkeys and real developers * The importance of shared understanding and ubiquitous language * Why interdisciplinary teams and collaboration matter more in the AI age * How to provide AI with the context it needs to be effective * The future of software development careers when AI handles implementation Key Insight: AI doesn't eliminate the need for skilled developers—it raises the bar. The question isn't whether AI will replace developers, but whether you're doing true development or just being a code monkey. If you're the latter, AI is coming for your job. If you're the former, AI is your new superpower. Hosted by engineering leaders David Dieruf and Wael Rabadi, co-founders of Kisasa.

Production First Development: Why Staging Environments Are Holding You Back

Most engineering teams treat staging environments as a safety net—a place to test changes before they hit production. But what if that safety net is actually slowing you down and creating more problems than it solves? In this episode, David Dieruf and Wael Rabadi challenge the conventional wisdom around staging environments and make the case for production-first development. What You'll Learn: * Why staging environments create false confidence and environment parity problems * How infrastructure as code (CDKTF) enables production-first development * Blue-green deployment strategies for safe production deployments * Why moving the edge to deployment eliminates the need for staging * How to simplify cloud security audits with infrastructure as code * Practical approaches to deploying directly to production safely Key Insight: If your staging environment isn't identical to production, it's not protecting you—it's just slowing you down. Invest in deployment practices that make production safe, not in maintaining a staging environment that lies to you. Hosted by engineering leaders David Dieruf and Wael Rabadi, co-founders of Kisasa.

AI Pair Programming: How AI is Transforming Developer Roles and Velocity

The rise of AI coding assistants is fundamentally changing what it means to be a software developer. But contrary to popular fear, AI isn't replacing engineers—it's transforming their roles from code writers to context managers and decision-makers. In this episode, David Dieruf and Wael Rabadi explore how AI pair programming is reshaping development at every level, from entry-level developers to senior architects. What You'll Learn: * How AI is transforming developer roles at entry, mid, and senior levels * Why context management is the new critical skill for developers * The economics of AI pair programming and productivity gains * How to structure development workflows around AI collaboration * Why documentation and shared understanding matter more than ever * The future of software development careers in an AI-augmented world Key Insight: AI doesn't eliminate the need for skilled developers—it raises the bar. The question isn't "Can AI write code?" but "Can you provide the context and make the decisions that turn AI-generated code into production-quality software?" Hosted by engineering leaders David Dieruf and Wael Rabadi, co-founders of Kisasa.

Thin Slices vs Story Points: Better Backlog Grooming for Engineering Teams

Most engineering teams struggle with backlog grooming because they focus on estimating story points and debating technical implementation details rather than defining user value and thin slices. In this episode, David Dieruf and Wael Rabadi discuss why traditional backlog grooming often becomes a solutioning session—and how to shift toward grooming that enables rapid iteration, effective testing, and better product outcomes. What You'll Learn: * Why story points create false precision and slow teams down * How to identify true thin slices that deliver vertical value * The difference between grooming (defining what) and solutioning (planning how) * Practical techniques for journey-based testing * How to maintain ubiquitous language across product and engineering * Why premature technical planning hurts iteration speed Key Insight: The best backlog grooming sessions ask "What does the user need to accomplish?" not "How should we build this?" Save the technical planning for after you've clearly defined the user value you're delivering. Hosted by engineering leaders David Dieruf and Wael Rabadi, co-founders of Kisasa.