We still need to talk about vibe coding: Reflections on 2025's word of the year

As fun as it is to discuss new terminology or debate the latest techniques, at some point the rubber needs to hit the proverbial road when it comes to AI. That's where things get really hard: when, say, your new agentic platform collides with the day-to-day realities of being an engineering team in a large organization with all the typical constraints and occasional firefighting. On this episode of the Technology Podcast we're taking a closer look at one real-world experience of adopting an agentic platform by talking about some of the work Thoughtworks has been doing with Splio, an AI-first CRM platform. Talking with host Ken Mugrage, Thoughtworker Carolina Allende Amen is joined by Splio's VP of Engineering François Bonicel and CTO Philippe Donon to dive into the challenges, learnings and surprises that emerged as they worked together on Splio's ambitious agentic project. Learn more about Thoughtworks' work with Splio: https://www.thoughtworks.com/clients/Splio Dive deeper into the topic with this blog post written by Philippe and Thoughtworkers Amy Raygada and Johnny Sayers: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/articles/the-action-gap-customer-insight Find out more about Thoughtworks' partnership with AWS and the Agentic Catalyst Program: https://www.thoughtworks.com/about-us/partnerships/cloud/aws/aws-software-isv

The way we think about and build with data is changing. Data lakehouses have become an industry standard, and conversation is turning to semantic and governance layers as organizations seek to optimize and leverage data for the AI era. However, the concept of 'data products' — treating data as something that needs to be deliberately managed and packaged in a way that's easily usable and consumable for the people that need it — remains crucial. On this episode of the Technology Podcast, host Nate Schutta is joined by Thoughtworks colleague and Data and AI Lead Lorisa Perdoci and Lauren Hartman, Cloud Solution Architect at Microsoft, to discuss everything from data products to data agents. They also explore Microsoft Fabric, discussing how its evolution in 2026 to include new features and capabilities built for AI agents and today's data integration and governance challenges, reflects the direction of travel in this field.

The agentic era of software engineering began almost a year ago. And while much has changed in 2026, there's still a lot that hasn't been settled. One of the most important issues is how teams should collaborate. The idea of working with a spec may have considerable allure, but many questions remain: How should it be defined? Who owns it? How do we iterate with it? The fear of retreating back into waterfall is very real and requires vigilance. On this episode of the Technology Podcast, hosts Ken Mugrage and Caer Sanders are joined by former Thoughtworkers Cassie Shum (formerly VP of Ecosystem and Product Engineering at RelationalAI) and Tim Cochran (recently a Principal at AWS) to discuss their new company Praxa Inc., a venture shaped by the industry's need to rethink the way we collaborate and structure our work in a world of AI agents. They discuss today's challenges, how software engineering is changing and how Praxa can help organizations navigate this period of evolution. Learn more about Praxa: https://teaser.getpraxa.ai/

We've seen a huge amount of increase in interest around open-weight models in 2026. The reasons for this are multifaceted, ranging from the switch to per token billing, the evolving privacy landscape and improvements in open-weight model capabilities. To unpack open-weight models and explore why and when we might want to use them, host Ken Mugrage is joined by Thoughtworkers Caer Sanders and Andre Almar. They discuss everything from the precise definition of the term and how they compare to other kinds of models, to governance and hardware challenges.

We've been thinking a lot recently about the status of code in a world where it's increasingly written and read by AI. Could the spec, for instance, become the primary way we interface with software systems? And if it does, will that mean humans no longer need to look at code at all? At present, the idea of not looking at our code seems fanciful, possibly dangerous, but even within Thoughtworks there are conflicting perspectives about whether this might change. To some, code will always remain the primary artifact; to others, its role in how we build software is about to undergo a significant transformation. On this episode of the Technology Podcast, Thoughtworks' Caer Sanders and Razin Memon join host Ken Mugrage for a debate about how the relationship between developers and code might — or might not — change in the final years of this decade. For Caer, despite the clear capabilities of AI, paying attention to code will always matter; for Razin, meanwhile, code's relevance is likely to decline as harnesses become more sophisticated and specification techniques evolve. Whatever your view, listen for a frank and open discussion about an issue that will ultimately determine what the future of software engineering actually looks like. Listen to our episode on harness engineering from May 2026: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/podcasts/technology-podcasts/what-harness-engineering Read a recent blog post on thoughtworks.com arguing we still need to design code for humans: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/blog/programming-languages/should-still-design-code-humans