Here's the neat thing: you don't.

I've tried, and I feel like I've got closer with faster models, but ultimately the agentic loop excludes you. Even if you're asking the agent to do simple short tasks, it's still: prompt, wait, wait, wait, check, and you never really feel like you're the one in control.

The problem with faster models is also that they're more stupid, so that additionally breaks your flow when you have to fix something dumb it's done.

LLM-powered autocomplete is a bit more like it, but that tends to be either so dumb as to be a net negative, or slow enough to be useless. And autocomplete is pretty distracting for me.

I feel like I'm missing a mode that works more like a pair programmer. Perhaps a multimodal model that can talk to you about what you're writing, as you write it, and offer suggestions rather than trying to take over and do everything for you.

Short answer is I don’t and it adversely affects my job satisfaction.

I’m quite sure I’ve left money on the table over the years as a result of my reluctance to manage and mentor junior developers. Disappointing that I’ve ended up managing junior AI developers who won’t even grow as a result of the time I’m putting into them.

Read the blog posts from Peter Steinberget blog steipete.me about his setup. Many AI builders converged on using the terminal with multiple panes. When a prompt is running if you don't have anything to do add another pane and start another prompt. Little by little you might have 1-6 prompts in parallel at some point. The flow state with AI is managing productively several prompts in parallel.

I have this problem too. The only thing that has 10x'd is my boss's expectations and the number of draft PRs I have open...

Flow state relies on a constant information inflow that holds your attention perfectly, often hinging on competency and challenge. You can't enter it in AI coding because you need to wait for replies. It's incompatible.

I just watch YouTube in the downtime these days, or movies that I don't care too much about

For me the flow state has always come from a sensation of creative juices spawning ideas, a vision for an end result, and the deep focus that ensues in working towards that.

Such a cycle previously could take hours or days, resulting in long, deep flow states. But now I go through dozens such cycles a day.

So less of a single flow state, more so many short flow states. As for waiting, that’s when you can explore another idea in parallel. Double the flow states for me :)

Never, has made my programming joyless and boring. If it wasn't a requirement to keep my job I'd never touch it.

Could you not just, you know, not use Claude? Or if you must, delegate some tasks to the agent and go work on something yourself, the agent doesn't mind waiting for you to get back.

Welcome to management!!!

Do something better with your life. Honestly, not /s. Your brain is trying to tell you something.

[flagged]

[dead]