# Fragments: July 6

DevFeed: [Fragments: July 6](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/fragments-july-6-4430.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://martinfowler.com/fragments/2026-07-06.html>)

Author: Martin Fowler (martin@martinfowler.com)

Published: 2026-07-06T12:53:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Martin Fowler](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/martin-fowler.md>)

Topics: [AI-assisted coding](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/ai-assisted-coding.md>), [Developer Tools](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/developer-tools.md>)

Tags: [agentic](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/agentic.md>), [architecture](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/architecture.md>), [conference](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/conference.md>), [cost](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/cost.md>), [design](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/design.md>), [developer-experience](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/developer-experience.md>), [software-engineering](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/software-engineering.md>)

## AI overview

Fragmentary reflections from a software-development retreat describe agentic development moving from aspiration into production use, while noting unresolved questions about effective practices, token costs, and the role of architecture and design.

## Source excerpt

Last week, Thoughtworks ran a second Future of Software Development Retreat, this time in Europe. As with the previous event, I'll be sharing some fragmentary thoughts on this. There were five parallel streams, so I could, at best, only attend ⅕ of sessions. This isn't an event that forms conclusions, rather one that allows those exploring to share what they've found, and their visions for the future. The bliki post lists all the writing I've run into on this, by myself and others. I'll be updating it as more posts appear. Giles Edwards-Alexander "noticed a real difference between the retreats": Where Deer Valley had hesitancy and a belief that there was something here even if we weren't yet sure what it was, Engelberg had confidence: the value is here. As I explained to a colleague today, this was not a conference for true believers: the evidence is in. What does the evidence say? Well, that was less clear. Some patterns and practices are emerging (one attendee had catalogued dozens of agentic engineering pattern libraries) but they are emerging. There is more work to do to truly establish what is effective, and when. Greg Herlein felt similarly: Reading the reports of the February event, when a lot of these same folks last got together, the conversation was about what agentic development might look like. Aspirational. More about what was coming. This time? Everybody in the room was doing it. Shipping it. Not slides - production. The whole debate about whether this changes software engineering is over. People have stopped arguing about whether a while ago. They're arguing about how, and the how is getting real. On a more micro level, I noted two other things. Firstly, there was much talk now about harness engineering, when that wasn't even a term in Utah - an example of how rapidly things are moving. Secondly people are now worrying about the cost of tokens, where before folks were wanting to do almost anything to incentivize people to talk to The Genie. ❄ ❄ A ques