A conversation with Robert Douglass and Matt Farina

What happens when AI makes individual developers faster, but entire teams still need to coordinate decisions, specifications, and work across the same codebase? In this episode of the Spec Kitty Podcast, Robert Douglass of SpecKitty AI sits down with Matt Farina, Head of Portfolio Architecture and Community at SUSE, to explore the evolving world of spec-driven AI development. Matt and Robert dig into the growing importance of open specifications and standards, how AI agents are changing software development, and why clearly defining what needs to be built may become even more important as AI takes on more of the actual coding. They discuss: • Why open standards can sometimes create more opportunity than open source alone • How specifications help guide AI-generated software • Matt’s approach to using structured plans and specs with LLMs • How teams can manage decisions when humans and AI agents are working together • The role of product owners, engineers, and leadership in agentic development • AI infrastructure, MCP, CLIs, and running private AI models • European digital sovereignty and open technology ecosystems • The challenges AI creates for open-source maintainers • What happens when AI-generated pull requests start flooding open-source projects As AI coding tools continue to improve, the bigger challenge may no longer be whether AI can write the code. It may be how teams communicate intent, make decisions, document those decisions, and coordinate humans and AI around a shared specification. Learn more about SpecKitty AI and spec-driven development: https://spec-kitty.ai Subscribe for more conversations about AI-assisted software development, specifications, open source, and the future of building software. #SpecKitty #AIDevelopment #AgenticAI #SoftwareDevelopment #OpenSource #SpecDrivenDevelopment #ArtificialIntelligence #Developers