The AI Developer's Field Guide

Generative AI has changed software development fast. It has also introduced a new class of failure: code that looks plausible, ships quickly, and quietly corrodes systems, teams, and judgment.

In *The AI Developer's Field Guide*, Tim O'Brien gives developers, managers, and technical leaders a practical language for spotting the anti-patterns of AI-assisted coding before they become standard operating procedure. Using an RPG-inspired framework of classes, artifacts, spells, and monsters, the book turns familiar frustrations into memorable patterns that teams can actually discuss.

You will meet the Fighter, Wizard, Rogue, and Cleric: recurring developer archetypes shaped by how they use AI tools under pressure. You will also encounter the monsters that emerge when speed outruns judgment: Congealing Slop, the Probability Pixie, the Phantom Intern, the Scope Creep Kraken, Stagnant Miasma, and more. Each pattern is funny enough to recognize instantly and concrete enough to use in real engineering conversations.

But this is not just a taxonomy of failure. It is a field manual for doing better work. Alongside the anti-patterns, O'Brien offers review prompts, interventions, team habits, and decision frameworks that help organizations use AI coding tools without surrendering rigor, clarity, or craft.

Whether you are reviewing pull requests, leading an engineering team, modernizing delivery practices, or trying to separate genuine acceleration from expensive chaos, this book will help you name what is happening, respond earlier, and build healthier habits around AI-assisted development.

Sharp, practical, and darkly funny, *The AI Developer's Field Guide* is for anyone who suspects the hardest part of AI coding is not generating code. It is learning how not to be fooled by it.