2. Context Momentum: The First Prompt Trap and Path Dependence

Your AI isn’t just generating code — it’s building momentum.In Chapter 2 of The Engineering of Intent, we dive into the hidden force shaping every AI-assisted project: context momentum.Every prompt, every response, every small decision compounds. Over time, this creates path dependence — where early choices quietly lock your project into a specific direction, whether you intended it or not.This is where many developers lose control.To keep moving fast, they accept AI-generated changes that don’t fully match their intent. It works in the moment — but later, that accumulated drift turns into friction, inconsistency, and painful rewrites.We also break down the First Prompt Trap: your very first instruction sets the tone, structure, and constraints for everything that follows. If it’s vague, your entire codebase inherits that ambiguity.But this episode isn’t just theory.You’ll learn how to take back control:– Treat your first prompt like a project charter– Prevent context rot with living reference docs (like AGENTS.md)– And know when to deliberately slow down before making irreversible architectural decisionsIf you’re building with AI, this is one of the most important concepts to understand early — before momentum starts working against you.Listen to the episode, then go deeper: Get the book on Amazon