Spec-Driven Development on a Higher Level: Guardrails for AI Agents

⚠️ IMPORTANT — this is a remote talk on Google Meet. To get the join link you must register on Luma here 👉 https://luma.com/wlf8j75t (an RSVP here alone won't get you in.) ___ Agents now write more code than you can carefully read. The common answer is "read the plans, read the diffs, write a better prompt." I don't think that's the answer — and I've got the receipts. A good spec pins *intent*. It doesn't pin the solution, so you end up reviewing everything anyway — no certainty, just diligence. This session is the story of how I stopped doing that: adding **deterministic guardrails** — behavioral (BDD) tests and enforced C4 architecture — on top of the spec, so I could hand an agent a *bigger* task and read *less* of the result by hand. **What you'll walk away with:** * Why "a better prompt" is not the fix — and what a *deterministic* guardrail actually is * How a spec becomes an enforced contract: visualized architecture + behavioral tests the agent can't quietly violate * Where this goes next: the tooling, enforcement, and the frontier — ontologies and neurosymbolic AI **Who it's for:** Engineering leaders owning AI adoption, and the senior devs / tech leads / EMs doing the work. If you're trying to move faster than review can keep up, this is for you. **Format:** \~50 min talk + live demo, then open Q&A. Remote, recorded. **Wed Sep 9, 2026 · 18:00 CEST** (12:00 ET / 09:00 PT), on Google Meet — join link sent when you register. **Save your spot →** registration is on Luma (link below), not just Meetup RSVP — that's how you get the recording and the deck afterward: [https://luma.com/wlf8j75t](https://luma.com/wlf8j75t) *** *Part of **Software Engineering for the AI Era** — a recurring workshop series on agentic coding and AI-native delivery.* Group: Software engineering for the AI era by Max Piechota Going: 75 Online event. Official listing: https://www.meetup.com/software-engineering-for-the-ai-era-by-max-piechota/events/316180404/