What wasn’t working

I’ve been building a lot of software with AI lately, and one of my biggest frustrations has been regression. That’s when you add or fix something in an application, only to discover you’ve broken something that was already working.

AI can write some pretty impressive code, but it has a tendency to focus on the task in front of it and lose sight of the bigger picture.

That’s why I came up with FortiDude, a little nod to the expression “intestinal fortitude.” I wanted to give AI some discipline and keep it focused on finishing what we started.

Give AI the Whole Blueprint

The idea behind FortiDude is pretty simple. Instead of building an application one instruction at a time, we map out the entire project before writing code.

FortiDude breaks development into five parts:

• Description: What the application is supposed to do.
• Constitution: Rules and design decisions the AI must follow.
• Sprints: The order in which features get developed.
• Punchlists: Specific tasks that need to be completed.
• Gates: Checkpoints to make sure everything still works.

This allows the AI to see the project from start to finish instead of just concentrating on the next feature.

Why This Matters

Think of building a house. You wouldn’t start putting up walls without knowing where the plumbing and electrical systems need to go.

Software works much the same way.

By planning the entire application upfront, the software architect can fine-tune the design from the onset, identify potential problems, and make changes before they become expensive coding mistakes.

The AI also knows what’s coming in later development stages, so it can make better decisions early on.

Keeping Regression Out of the Picture

This was my biggest motivation.

I got tired of asking AI to add a feature and discovering that something we finished three sprints ago was suddenly broken.

FortiDude uses its constitution, punchlists, and gates to keep development consistent. Completed features are checked as new ones are added, helping prevent regression instead of constantly repairing it.

No system can guarantee that bugs won’t happen, but a complete blueprint and regular checkpoints can dramatically reduce the chances.

The Bottom Line

FortiDude isn’t another AI programming language or coding engine. It’s a structured way to manage AI software development.

The human remains the software architect. AI does the heavy lifting, but it follows a plan that has already been thought through from beginning to end.

My goal is simple: Spend more time building new features and less time fixing things that worked yesterday.

That’s FortiDude.