en.Wedoany.com Report on Mar 30th, Recently, Andrew Filev, founder and CEO of the U.S. company Zencoder, shared the remarkable results achieved by his engineering team after shifting to an AI-first development model. Over the past six months, by introducing AI workflows, the team has realized an approximate 170% increase in output with about 80% of the original manpower, while also improving software quality. This transformation is not only reflected in efficiency but has also brought structural changes to the development process.

Prior to the AI application, the team needed to spend weeks refining user flows before coding, and the cost of testing multiple product ideas was high. After switching to an AI-first model, the cost of experimentation has significantly decreased. An idea can now go from a whiteboard to a working prototype within a day, including everything from AI-generated product requirement documents to technical specifications and implementation. For example, the website system now has hundreds of custom components, designed and maintained directly in code by the creative director, enabling rapid iteration.

The development process has shifted from the traditional "diamond" shape to a "double funnel" model. Humans are more deeply involved in the stages of defining intent and validating results, while AI is responsible for the execution in the middle. The role of the quality assurance team has also changed; they now build AI agents to generate and maintain acceptance tests, making validation an integral part of the production process. This AI-first engineering approach allows engineers to work at a higher level of abstraction, focusing on thinking rather than coding, marking a new era in software development.