[rfoo]

You don't need to be nice to your virtual junior devs. Saves quite a lot time too.

As long as I spend less time reviewing and guiding than doing it myself it's a win for me. I don't have any fun doing these things and I'd rather yelling at a bunch of "agents". For those who enjoy doing bunch of small edits I guess it's the opposite.

[HappMacDonald]

I'm definitely wary of the concept of dismissing courtesy when working with AI agents, because I certainly don't want to lose that habit when I turn around and have to interact with humans again.

[brookst]

Exactly. Courtesy and kindness are largely for the benefit of the giver. People who think “now I’m free to be the jerk I really am” worry me.

[rfoo]

There's a very large gap between being super nice to a human and being a jerk.

I don't think it benefits me much by very politely suggesting that its approach may not work and emphasize on the good part of the idea it generates and it would be better if it could try to push in another direction for example X. Like I do when talking to junior engineers.

I usually just say, "This does not work because of ..., Y is good though, change your mind and assess X now". I can also say this when I'm not actually sure whether X works or not, without worrying about my words sending an intern / a junior engineer into days of struggling on a deadend.

[HappMacDonald]

Relevent SMBC https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/ai-15