The Real AI Edge: Opinionated Workflows, Not New Models

The Real AI Edge: Opinionated Workflows, Not New Models

Published Dec 6, 2025

Code reviewers are burning 12–15 hours a week on low‐signal, AI‐generated PRs—so what should you do? Over the last two weeks (with practitioner threads on Reddit: 2025‐11‐21, 2025‐11‐22, 2025‐12‐05) senior engineers in finance, infra, and public‐sector data say the problem isn’t models but broken workflows: tool sprawl, “vibe‐coded” over‐abstracted changes, slower iteration, and higher maintenance risk. The practical fix that’s emerging: pick one primary assistant and master it (a month trial delivered edits that fell from 2–3 minutes to under 10 seconds), treat others as specialists, and map your repo into green/yellow/red AI zones enforced by CI and access controls. Measure outcomes (lead time, change‐failure rate, review time), lock down AI use via operating policies, and ban unsupervised AI in high‐risk flows—these are the immediate steps to turn hype into reliable productivity.