[MrOrelliOReilly]

IMO this is the consequence of a relentless focus on feature development over core product refinement. I often have the impression that Anthropic would benefit from a few senior product people. Someone needs to lend them a copy of “Escaping the Build Trap.” Just because we _can_ rapidly add features now doesn’t mean we should.

PS I’m not referencing a well-known book to suggest the solution is trite product group think, but good product thinking is a talent separate from good engineering, and Anthropic seems short on the later recently

[cmrdporcupine]

I think they've dug themselves into a complexity trap. Beyond the stochastic nature of the models themselves, I don't think they're able to reason about their software anymore. Too many levers, too many dials, and code that likely nobody understands.

But worse, based on the pronouncements of Dario et al I suspect management is entirely unsympathetic because they believe we (SWEs) are on the chopping block to be replaced. And intimation that putting guard rails around these tools for quality concerns ... I'm suspecting is being ignored or discouraged.

In the end, I feel like Claude Code itself started as a bit of a science experiment and it doesn't smell to me like it's adopted mature best practices coming out of that.

[qweiopqweiop]

I agree. My real fear if this is how the company works, how are systems with real implications (e.g. defense) being treated.

[anonyfox]

Essentially they should hire a few of the old school product guys from Apple. Best me to it, but the obsession on UX and quality from earlier Apple is exactly what they urgently need instead of tech folks trying to engineer themselves into complicated rabbit holes and shenanigans.

[MrOrelliOReilly]

Exactly!

[slashdave]

They need to keep up with demand, because compute resources are clearly limited. That means they have no choice but to add these features, or things break, or they have to stop taking new customers. All of those options are unacceptable.

[cmrdporcupine]

They're losing customers because of quality concerns. Pausing development and focusing 100% on quality is how you fix that.

That said, that may not have been obvious at all in the Jan/Feb time frame when they got a wave of customers due to ethical concerns.

[slashdave]

No. Pausing development does not make compute (you know, physical machines?) appear out of thin air.

[nozzlegear]

On the other hand, sacrificing your paying customers at the altar of compute and tokens does not make money appear out of thin air.

[joshribakoff]

They had like 100 devs making 600k at one point. The issue is certainly not lack of talent. More like, they insist on forcing the vibe coding narrative. Some candidates are refusing interview requests accordingly.

[MrOrelliOReilly]

Ugh wrote “latter” and meant “former.” I didn’t mean lack of eng talent, but product