Why faster coding doesn’t mean faster delivery

Antony Marcano is the founder of RiverGlide and an engineering leader known for building teams that reach the Elite tier of the DORA metric for software delivery performance. In this episode of Distributed, host Jack Hannah talks with Antony about what distinguishes those teams and how AI is reshaping software delivery. Antony explains why AI-augmented coding often amplifies existing team dynamics, accelerating work upstream of bottlenecks and sometimes harming end-to-end performance. He discusses why humans must still maintain codebases, how overreliance on AI can reduce collaboration, and why leaders should measure delivery performance before adopting tools under top-down pressure. They also explore what return-to-office mandates often miss about remote collaboration, how elite remote-first teams operate, and why DORA remains a useful starting point for understanding performance in the AI era. — Where to find Antony Marcano: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonymarcano • Website: https://antonymarcano.com • Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/antonymarcano.bsky.social — Where to find Jack Hannah: • LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-hannah/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ • Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tuple.app/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ — Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (01:07) The four DORA metrics (03:08) What elite status means (08:50) What excites Antony about AI (12:09) What concerns Antony about AI (15:56) Removing delivery bottlenecks (18:49) AI’s impact on collaboration (22:02) Risks of relying entirely on AI code (27:11) Why collaboration matters in software teams (31:19) Navigating top-down pressure to adopt AI (36:45) Why DORA is a good starting point (39:04) Return-to-office mandates (42:30) Characteristics of elite remote-first teams (47:52) METR study on AI and perceived productivity (50:15) Rapid fire round — Referenced: • RiverGlide: https://riverglide.com • DORA’s software delivery performance metrics: https://dora.dev/guides/dora-metrics • Waterfall Methodology: A Comprehensive Guide: https://www.atlassian.com/agile/project-management/waterfall-methodology • Is Your AI assisted Coding Strategy Quietly Backfiring?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ1apxgvOa0 • 2025 DORA State of AI-assisted Software Development Report: https://cloud.google.com/resources/content/2025-dora-ai-assisted-software-development-report • OpenClaw: https://openclaw.ai • OpenClaw (formerly Moltbot, Clawdbot) May Signal the Next AI Security Crisis: https://www.paloaltonetworks.com/blog/network-security/why-moltbot-may-signal-ai-crisis • Performance at the Limit: Business Lessons from Formula 1 Motor Racing: https://www.amazon.com/Performance-Limit-Business-Lessons-Formula/dp/0521844002 • Measuring the Impact of Early-2025 AI on Experienced Open-Source Developer Productivity: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.09089 • Extreme Programming: A gentle introduction: http://www.extremeprogramming.org • Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change: https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Programming-Explained-5-Oct-1999-Paperback/dp/B011T86NIY • Machine learning expert on the 3 skills that matter most in the AI age: https://tuple.app/distributed/machine-learning-expert-on-the-3-skills-that-matter-most-in-the-AI-age • Jason Gorman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasongorman • The AI-Ready Software Developer – Index: https://codemanship.wordpress.com/2025/10/30/the-ai-ready-software-developer-index • Dave Farley’s blog: https://www.davefarley.net • Kevlin Henney’s website: https://kevlin.tel