Honest Limits

Agents are the most powerful form of leverage in this book, which is exactly why it's worth being clear-eyed about what they are and aren't.

They are not autonomy you can stop understanding. The moment you can no longer answer "what is this code supposed to do, and how would I know if it's wrong," you've crossed from using leverage into hoping for luck. Every layer in this chapter — scoping, guardrails, tests, spot-review, cost caps — exists to keep you on the understanding side of that line while letting the agent do far more of the typing.

The skill ceiling is the same as the rest of the book: your ability to say what you want precisely and recognize when you got it. An agent multiplies that ability; it doesn't replace it. The people who get burned aren't the ones who used agents — they're the ones who used agents to stop thinking. Don't be that. Hand off the work; keep the judgment.