Essays by Ry Walker

Essays on AI, startups, and software engineering by Ry Walker, founder of Tembo and Astronomer.

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Feb 13, 2026Rise of the Agents: An AI Coding Ecosystem Map

A visual guide to the emerging AI agent ecosystem — from foundation lab tools to enterprise in-house agents, and everything in between.

Feb 10, 2026The Tembo Manifesto

Why we're building Tembo: AI coding agents should be orchestrated, not operated. The vision for enterprise-grade agent infrastructure.

Feb 4, 2026Measuring Developer Performance (And Why AI Might Make It Worse)

Developer performance is hard to measure; AI adds noisy signals. A case for outcome-focused frameworks over vanity metrics.

Dec 24, 2025Put AI on Defense, Not Just Offense

Most developers use AI only to write code. The real opportunity is using AI to secure, debug, and test—deploying equal firepower on defense.

Dec 24, 2025Why "Good Enough" Code Wins

AI-assisted development has changed the economics of code quality. Teams shipping "good enough" code are moving faster than craftperfectionists.

Dec 10, 2025I Asked 399 Developers for Their One Wish. Here's What They Said.

Survey results from 399 developers reveal what's broken in modern software development: focus time, AI tools, and distribution top the list.

Sep 11, 2025The Future of AI Coding: Beyond Tools to True Autonomous Development

The three tiers of AI coding adoption: from assisted tools to autonomous background agents. Why 80% of code will be AI-written within a decade.

Jun 11, 2025AI-First Software Development: Redefining How We Build Software

The AI-First Software Development Manifesto: 11 principles for treating AI as a true development partner, not a fancy autocomplete.