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Michal Buczko - Quality Adventures

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Everything AI in software delivery: models, tools, and the shift they're forcing on how it gets built.

When NOT to reach for the architect tier, revisited

When NOT to reach for the architect tier, revisited

Fourteen weeks ago I gave you one question to ask before standing up the architect tier. It was right — and it was half the question. The second axis (is being wrong expensive?), the two overkill traps, and the post where the series grows out of its own name.

Istambul Software Testing Conference 2025

Istambul Software Testing Conference 2025

My first conference in Turkey, and a critical-thinking talk in front of a room with no idea who I was. The discussion kept coming back to balancing AI with fundamentals. I now think balance is the wrong word.

The model was confident and wrong. Designing for that.

The model was confident and wrong. Designing for that.

Last week I argued that a quality gate earns its keep by where it sits — place the check just upstream of where the mistake turns expensive, and you catch defects while they're still cheap to fix. I stand by every word. So here's the failure that walks straight through all of it.

TestFest : 2025

TestFest : 2025

My first test:fest talk in 2015 was about testing versus checking. Ten editions later I was on the same stage talking about critical thinking and AI. It was the same question, wearing new clothes.

The overengineering tax: when three tiers cost more than one

The overengineering tax: when three tiers cost more than one

Because that's a real failure mode, and it's the one nobody warns you about. Everyone warns you about doing too little. This is about doing too much, and calling it rigour.

The Complete AI Orchestration Journey: From Claude Web Chat to Production iOS App

The Complete AI Orchestration Journey: From Claude Web Chat to Production iOS App

The reference notes I wrote in November 2025, before BowSmith shipped: four phases, the original 17-agent team, the prompt template that cut context drift, and the failures. Lightly updated, with pointers to where the thinking went next.

Reviewer design: catching what the architect tier misses

Reviewer design: catching what the architect tier misses

A model's output is shaped by its assumptions, it brings the identical set of assumptions to the check. So it reads its own work and finds it sound, not because the work is sound, but because author and reviewer share a blind spot in exactly the same place.