Software development moved faster this past year than in any stretch I can remember. Assistants draft, refactor, and explain. Tooling closes the gap between an idea and something useful. Work that used to take a quiet afternoon can now happen before lunch.
That part is real. I use the new tools. I am glad they exist. Pretending otherwise would be nostalgia, and nostalgia does not make useful work.
What did not speed up is the part that makes the work worth doing.
You still have to care what the day feels like for the person using what you made. You still have to decide what to leave out. You still need the judgment to say, “this is clear enough,” or “this is fighting someone who has twelve minutes between obligations.” A faster draft is not the same thing as finished work someone can trust.
Creative passion is not a slogan I hang on the wall. It is the reason I stay with a problem until the flow feels calm. Pride in the work is what keeps a small studio from shipping something merely impressive. And the desire to see people achieve—finish what matters, get back to their kids, get on with the job—is the only honest measure I know.
AI can accelerate the mechanical parts. It cannot care whether someone has a quieter morning. It cannot take pride in a detail nobody will tweet about. It cannot understand why one unnecessary step matters on a day that is already full.
I have been building software long enough to enjoy a good shortcut. I have also been at it long enough to know that shortcuts do not replace taste. The tools got faster. The craft still asks for a person who wants the work to land well.
That is the through-line at That Vince Guy: useful work for busy days, made by someone who still loves the making and wants the person on the other side to get where they are going.