iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 16/07/2026

Today I'm doing a lot of Iceberg development. On the surface - AI smashes out an entire, high quality feature in 20 minutes. Underneath - I spend endless hours thinking, architecting, and running small experiments to get to the point where AI can code it in 20 minutes.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 19/05/2026

AI may generate code faster than a human, but that isn't the bottleneck. A better question - how can you get clarity on what to build and whether it delivers value?

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 14/05/2026

Going round in circles. Anyone else feeling it? As software developers we're very susceptible to the silver bullet, shiny new thing that's going to make building stuff easier. Queue the fail loop: see shiny thing, adopt shiny thing, run into problems, see new shiny thing.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 13/05/2026

AI is a tool, not a strategy. AI is a tool, not a strategy. AI is a tool, not a strategy.

Bart Simpson writes "AI is a tool, not a strategy" repeatedly on a blackboard, suggesting a classroom setting.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 12/05/2026

The more I use AI for coding the more it becomes apparent - AI generating realms of code isn't speeding us up. If the goal is to solve problems, deliver value, meaningfully impact our users, then AI generating more code, more quickly doesn't cut it.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 11/05/2026

I've recently found myself pondering earlier career choices, wondering if I made a mis-step somewhere, worrying about AI I mean, I even switched from PC to Mac! But I've just realised what's going on. Mid-life crisis ain't it! Phew, for a minute I thought I was losing it.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 07/05/2026

Feeling unmoored right now? You're definitely not alone - it's not you, the world is weird and unsettling. Hang in there 👊

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 01/05/2026

With AI we're coding faster than ever! Moar code! But what if the bottleneck isn't: - Understanding the requirement - Writing the tests - Writing the code - Reviewing the code What if it's getting feedback from users?

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 28/04/2026

An old boss of mine loved nothing more than to come to the dev team armed with a 'mockup' for a screen they wanted building. The mockup was, in fact, an Excel sheet, where they'd used the border tool to make it look like the picture in their head.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 24/04/2026

Are LLMs like car engines, and harnesses like cars? A Škoda Octavia and base Porsche Macan use the same VW engine platform. Same engine, wildly different driving experience.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 24/04/2026

Team struggling to ship? Identify the bottleneck - the one part of the system where work backs up. It might be obvious (you're swamped in code reviews because... AI). Or less obvious (devs waiting for clarification on requirements from a PM or designer).

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 23/04/2026

If I could magic one thing into the world it would be that more people leverage AI to help THEM think through, analyse and define the problem they're trying to solve. Before AI writes any code.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 22/04/2026

AI amplifies what you're doing. Good, or bad.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 22/04/2026

There's no great mystery to shorter feedback loops. AI or not, everything improves when you ask "how quickly can we find out?"

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 17/04/2026

Imagine you're a junior developer and your boss asks you to "build a car finance calculator" You, the junior, don't know the rules, moving parts, how to calculate finance based on deposits, depreciation, interest rates etc. But, keen to impress, you give it a go.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 17/04/2026

For the engineering team leaders out there - how are you tackling the adoption of AI within your team? Maybe you've thrown some Claude/Copilot licenses at them and are hoping they can figure it out.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 16/04/2026

How often do you find yourself asking AI to commit and push, instead of switching to your IDE to click the button? Asking for a friend.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 16/04/2026

Let's be honest, as developers we've known the value of tests for a long time, doesn't mean we've always written them. But in the last few weeks I've made sure to get AI to write tests first, before implementing, and in most cases it's been much better in two key regards.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 16/04/2026

Everyone knows AI can generate code, but what if that isn't even its best party trick? I've found the most useful and productive sessions I've had are those where I get AI to help me do the work.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 13/04/2026

AI coding risks having us all spin around in circles doing more work than ever, while simultaneously failing to make progress towards our goals. Hell, half the time we don't even know what those goals are! Beware AI doesn't turn you into a busy fool.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 10/04/2026

There's a notable fail mode I see being amplified by AI right now. Especially for developers. We decide we want to build something, because we have a problem and feel like building something will help us fix it.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 09/04/2026

So, with AI, we can generate more code! MOAR CODE! Or... we can use it to help us think through what we're building, and why. And question whether we need to build anything at all, or at least hold off until we've analysed the business problem first.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 09/04/2026

The more I use AI for coding the more I realise feedback loops are vital now. (side note, they always were) Linters, compile checks, tests, extensions to test the UI in the browser, code quality reviews.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 09/04/2026

It's OK to feel unmoored by the noise around AI right now. If you're wondering how it impacts your role as a software engineer or manager, I got ya. I'm feeling it too. It's OK to feel curious, skeptical, excited, fearful, all at the same time.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 08/04/2026

The best results I've experienced when coding with AI have come when I narrow the scope of what I'm asking it to do.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 07/04/2026

Getting into a habit of recording more videos and publishing them. And I'm reminded that things like this are a great way to push past perfectionism, and ship the dodgy first 1, 2, 10 videos, knowing it's all part of the process.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 03/04/2026

If there's one thing I'm very glad to have tools like Claude Code help me with it's merge conflicts! I've had a few to deal with recently and it's sorted them out every time.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 03/04/2026

"If there’s one lesson from this experience, it’s this: preparation matters more than the model." 100% this. Matches my experience - get the scaffolding right and the model matters a lot less. devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/ten-...

devblogs.microsoft.com

Ten Months with Copilot Coding Agent in dotnet/runtime - .NET Blog

After ten months using GitHub Copilot Coding Agent (CCA) in dotnet/runtime, the .NET team shares data-driven lessons on cloud-AI-assisted development.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 02/04/2026

I increasingly find my main role with AI coding is to notice when it's guessing, and give it the tools to stop, look at the evidence, and go from there. Even better when that can be done up front, to reduce the times when AI starts guessing in the first place.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 27/03/2026

It feels like good code architecture matters more now than ever. Messy codebase? Messy AI results. Clean boundaries, consistent boundaries? Generally better results (albeit you still have to remind it sometimes).

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 26/03/2026

Something I've noticed using Claude Code. When you give it guidance on coding standards, dos and don'ts etc. it will often violate those standards when it generates the code, but nearly always identifies those violations when you run the same guidance as a review step later.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 09/10/2025

This feels like the right time to nudge people towards Skool if you feel the same as Kelsey articulates here. I run a couple of communities over there, am a member of many more, and can honestly say I've formed more new friendships in 5 months on Skool than I ever did spending time on social media.

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Reposted by Jon Hilton

ASP.NET Core News @aspnetcore.news · 07/10/2025

Blazor Server Reconnection Gets an Upgrade in .NET 10 by @jonhilton.net jonhilton.net/blazor-serve... #aspnetcore #blazor

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 06/10/2025

Testing using GitHub's Spec Kit to create a spec for a small project I'm working on. As part of this it created some test content (basically markdown files with text and optional video links). Interesting choice of test video there Claude...

Screenshot of web page showing generated test content. The interface displays a markdown file structure with test video links. One of the test videos selected by Claude AI is titled 'Never Gonna Give You Up' by Rick Astley - the famous Rickroll video, which appears to be Claude's humorous choice for test content.

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Reposted by Jon Hilton

Duende Software @duendesoftware.com · 29/09/2025

Discover a key update in #dotnet 10 that improves local development! 🔥 In this blog post, we explain how a new TLS certificate and unique local domains can solve cookie conflicts and better mimic production environments. duende.link/arbgu89 #aspnetcore #security

duende.link

Duende Software - Identity and Access Management for .NET

We help companies using .NET to build identity and access control solutions for modern applications.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 23/09/2025

Well thanks a lot Storage Sense…

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 04/09/2025

Set out to do a super quick proof of concept using .NET Aspire this morning. 3 hours later I'm nearly ready to give it a go! Where did the 3 hours go? Faffing about trying to get logged in to the correct MS accounts and directories in VS and Azure so I can deploy the damn thing… 😩

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 01/09/2025

I started building web apps when I was 16, in my bedroom. The first site I ever built was, objectively terrible (works with Netscape Navigator!) But I learned so much. The fundamentals of HTML, how to write copy, marketing (sharing the site with others, in forums etc.)

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 23/07/2025

I credit these two with many of the successes I've enjoyed in the last 9 or so years… @alexhillman.com and @amy.stackingthebricks.com Tomorrow, Dev Builders community members get to ask them anything about building and marketing their 'thing', and I can't wait!

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 22/07/2025

Very excited to be hosting Alex Hillman and Amy Hoy for a live QnA in Dev Builders later this week… Excited/nervous!😅

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 09/06/2025

If you're integrating AI into your web applications it can be a pain to write all the code to switch between different LLMs and models. So far I'm finding Microsoft's AI Extensions provide a useful level of abstraction to minimise that problem. jonhilton.net/ai/

jonhilton.net

Beyond chat - a quick way to bring AI to your Blazor Web App

AI as an engine to power your .NET web app?

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 08/06/2025

Is it now possible to automate testing your web app with a single prompt? Playwright MCP opens up some interesting possibilities for having AI figure out how to test your app. But the real value comes when you turn that into a repeatable spec... youtu.be/n6F4ZsIth9c

youtube.com

A new way to quickly test your web apps?

With Playwright MCP you can automate the browser from your AI tools.But what does this mean when it comes to testing your app?First shared with the Dev Build...

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 07/06/2025

I ran a quick experiment to see how GitHub Copilot (agent mode) handled creating the UI for a new feature in a Blazor app… jonhilton.net/humans-vs-ai/

jonhilton.net

What humans and Github Co-Pilot have in common

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 03/06/2025

Good code is good code. Whether you write it, or your LLM does… Separation of concerns, high cohesion, low coupling, all matter just as much today as they ever did.

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 31/05/2025

OK who's using AI for building apps primarily built on an MS stack? Thinking Blazor, C# etc. Conventional wisdom is that it's much more useful for JS (and especially React etc.) What's your experience?

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 27/05/2025

Something I think we're going to lean into, more and more, in this new era of AI… Human connection. I'm just back from meeting, in Germany, 17 people, who I didn't know a month ago. All met on Skool… An incredible, humbling couple of days that AI can't beat...

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Reposted by Jon Hilton

ASP.NET Core News @aspnetcore.news · 20/05/2025

Notable Blazor Improvements in the Early .NET 10 Previews by @jonhilton.net‬ www.telerik.com/blogs/notabl... #aspnetcore #blazor

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Jon Hilton @jonhilton.net · 19/05/2025

Not sure when to refactor your component down into smaller components? Check the number of parameters (Blazor) or props (React, Svelte etc.) How many are there, are they all relating to the same thing? Lots of tangentially related props - Your component may be doing too much.

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