Vibes-as-spec
Smell
"It should feel more… you know"
Damage
Unreviewable specs, moving goalposts
Replace with
Written constraints with pass/fail criteria
Guardrail
No spec, no build
No receipts, no audit
Smell
"Just trust me, it works"
Damage
Invisible failures, zero accountability
Replace with
Artifact-backed provenance (links, diffs, screenshots)
Guardrail
Every claim gets a receipt
Context-dump dependency
Smell
10k-token system prompts that grow weekly
Damage
Brittle sessions, wasted tokens, drift
Replace with
Structured state objects, scoped context
Guardrail
If the context doesn't fit in a card, refactor it
Infinite loop bias
Smell
Revision 14 of the same deliverable
Damage
Diminishing returns, burnt budget, no ship date
Replace with
Timeboxes and stop rules (see DR)
Guardrail
Set the stop rule before you start
Unbounded autonomy
Smell
Agent making production changes unasked
Damage
Blast radius without rollback
Replace with
Confirmation gates on destructive actions
Guardrail
No risky change without explicit sign-off
Tool spaghetti
Smell
40 tools wired together, no tests
Damage
Silent cascading failures
Replace with
Typed contracts, rollback paths, integration tests
Guardrail
Every tool gets a contract and a kill switch
Silent failure
Smell
"Task completed" with no evidence
Damage
Downstream decisions built on bad data
Replace with
Explicit success/failure signals with artifacts
Guardrail
No green light without a receipt