#45 | Sunday reads for EMs

My favourite reads of the week to make your Sunday a little more inspiring.

Stephane Moreau

May 17, 2026

👋 Hey, it’s Stephane. Every Sunday I share with you my favourite reads of the week.

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The slop cannons in your engineering org (Jake Handy)

tl;dr: Some engineers are using AI tools in a careless way, generating lots of code and designs without fully understanding what they’re shipping. This creates more bugs, messy pull requests, and teams that feel productive while actually slowing down or lowering quality. AI is powerful, but it only helps if people still think critically, review their work properly, and truly understand the systems they’re building.

A Lesson From the Cockpit (Subbu Allamaraju)

tl;dr: While automation can improve productivity, it can also slowly weaken people’s skills and understanding if they rely on it too much. The post explains that industries like aviation learned they still need humans to regularly practice without automation so they can handle difficult situations when systems fail. Software engineering needs to do the same with AI: use it as a tool, but make sure engineers still deeply understand systems, practice without AI sometimes, and avoid becoming overly dependent on automation.

The AI-native developer (Brian Houck)

tl;dr: AI is changing software engineering, with developers gradually moving from being skeptical of AI to using it as a core part of their workflow. The best developers are no longer just writing code themselves, they are learning how to guide, review, and coordinate AI systems effectively, but this also creates risks like weaker technical skills, over-dependence on AI, and less understanding of the code being shipped. The future of engineering will depend on whether companies reward deep thinking, judgment, and quality, or simply reward speed and output.

Three AI principles every exec leader needs to understand (Anna Shipman)

tl;dr: Executives and company leaders can no longer treat AI as “just a tech problem” that only engineers need to understand. AI is unpredictable and makes mistakes, AI can become very expensive over time, and real competitive advantage comes from how companies integrate AI into their workflows - not from simply using the same AI tools as everyone else. Leaders need enough AI understanding to ask good questions, manage risk properly, and make smart long-term business decisions instead of blindly chasing AI hype.

Can one bad apple ruin your team? (Bruce Daisley)

tl;dr: One consistently negative person can seriously damage a team’s energy, morale, and performance, even if the rest of the team is talented. Research shows that moods and behaviors spread quickly in groups, meaning a “bad apple” can make others more negative, disengaged, or unmotivated - while a calm and positive person can sometimes reverse the effect. Team culture is shaped not just by processes or strategy, but by the emotional influence people have on each other every day.