Four Codebases, One Spec, Ten Agents
Technical lead for the whole software side of a connected smart-home device: firmware, cloud, app and the protocol spec that binds them. Up to about ten AI agents build in parallel, every change goes through a merge train, and overnight runs test on real hardware. Every decision that matters is mine.
Role
Technical lead for the whole software side, end to end, working alongside the client's hardware team.
What I did
- Designed the operating model: the specs are the single source of truth, and work moves between codebases as small, versioned, written handoffs.
- Up to about ten AI coding agents in parallel, each on one task in its own git worktree, with a coordinating agent routing the work. Every change goes through a merge request, CI and a merge train.
- Overnight, unattended test sessions on the real device and a real phone, with pass/fail waiting in the morning.
- Built in from day one: secure pairing, signed over-the-air updates with automatic rollback, and a self-repair mode.
- Turned test observations into product and UX decisions, and set the test priorities per hardware iteration.