It's a UNIX system! I know this!
I've spent a good amount of time building with Claude Code and GitHub Copilot the last few months. CLI (Command Line Interface) honestly feels like a throwback to UNIX days. But as it happens, the command line is a good interface for making software in a world where you're using natural language to do it.
With the rise of natural language interfaces, I don't feel like I'm coding when I build software. "Vibe coding" is not the right description of this work either. It isn't about vibes any more than it is about manually writing code. It is planful, strategic building work.
It feels like writing code manually will be like knowing FORTRAN or COBOL 30 years ago. Yeah, it makes you hardcore and credible in certain circles. Some specialists will need it and you might need to read and edit some code as you make software. But eventually, most software-makers won't write code day-to-day.
"Coding" just isn't the right verb anymore.
Once a PM
I started my tech career in an unusual role. I had a PM job title, but I checked in code. This was not common at the time, but for my particular work, it made sense. I was responsible for designing the way that Microsoft applications put words in alphabetical order across hundreds of languages (harder than it sounds). The design was the code, and the code was the design. Managing the product meant writing the code.
Lately I've been working on projects where I am PM, designer, and engineer all rolled into one, so I've been thinking back on my first PM experience a lot. In many ways, the work I did 20 years ago was closer to the work I do today than most of my experiences in between have been.
But if "coding" is no longer the right verb, what is?
What comes after coding?
I've been asking everyone this question lately: at work, on LinkedIn, in my founder and VC circles, in my private AI forums. In all, I've captured 162 individual responses to this question over the last two weeks. It's striking 1) how similar the responses are across forums, and 2) how many of them still include the word "coding."
Often, people combined the terms above in their responses. For instance, 18 of the 162 people who responded said "AI-assisted coding."
All together, 57% of the replies included the word "coding," even though I explicitly asked people to suggest a verb that was not "coding." Old habits die hard.
Similarly, 18% of the replies included the word "vibe," even though I tried to take "vibe" off the board when I asked for people's input. You people are way groovier than I am!
What I found most surprising is that the long tail just wasn't very long. Of the 162 responses, 91% were given verbatim by multiple people. In fact, only 15 people suggested something unique; I've included those unique replies below.
Many of the unique replies were specific and insightful, like this explanation of "sculpting" as the software verb of the future:
Similarly, I appreciated the response below that compares AI software development with "running a macro" in Excel. Building and running and macro is a great reference point for what it feels like to make software with AI.
PM is dead, long live PM
The narrow range of responses illustrates how much consensus people have, and also how hard it is to dislodge a legacy term like "coding."
But to be honest, I'm wondering if the right term was actually just "PM" in the first place. I'm struck by how many of the unique replies include tasks that have traditionally belonged to product management. "Specifying," "setting outcomes," and "writing instructions" are the literal PM job description, and "envisioning," "constraint wrangling," and "instructing" are pretty close.
My own path might be proof that, while you can take the girl out of PM, you never quite take the PM out of the girl. And now the industry has caught up.
So what do you think? What's the verb that comes after coding?
Kieran
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