Brian and Justin jump off Matt Shumer's "Something Big is Happening" article to ask questions like is something big happening in AI that even regular folks need to be preparing for? Is this the most important year of your work as a software developer? Should you be getting your financial house in order to prepare for what's about to hit us all?

Timestamps:

• (00:12) - Sick snow
• (02:46) - Something big is happening here (AI edition)
• (21:02) - Not having to be held down by legacy code speeds you up
• (28:36) - Warnings to the non-technical world about AI
• (45:35) - Humans have a hard time assessing their field of view in the future
• (48:55) - This might be the most important year of your work
• (51:12) - AI in education with kids
• (56:05) - Seeing the world the way it is vs the way it was
• (58:23) - Getting your financial house in order
• (01:04:14) - The job market and the economy
• (01:13:00) - Sometimes you have to play the game not on the field

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Links mentioned in this episode:

• Justin's snowboard adventure in Revelstoke
• "Something Big is Happening" – The viral Matt Shumer article (76M views)
• Matt Shumer's blog
• Matt Shumer's company (HyperWrite)
• "Tool Shaped Objects" – The response to Shumer's post
• Justin's new RSS feed
• Builder Methods video library (Claude Code course)
• Moneyball: "Adapt or die" clip
• Justin's post on XSLT going away

Come meet the crew of AI agents Brian has working for him, Justin's building fake apps to experiment and find out what he wants for real apps, and why don't we feel like we can relax now that we're doing ok?

Timestamps:

• (00:45) - What we're talking about this episode
• (03:14) - Brian's OpenClaw setup
• (11:57) - The cost of token usage with OpenClaw
• (17:32) - What makes the memory better in OpenClaw?
• (22:38) - What about Cowork?
• (25:21) - Working with multiple agents in OpenClaw
• (27:07) - The problem of Siri
• (29:25) - The challenges of working is the same across AI or hiring
• (31:28) - The importance of thinking of AI as an employee
• (35:03) - What you'll miss by using AI instead of hiring a human
• (44:14) - Why Justin thinks it's important to build fake products
• (49:57) - Justin's app to publish a video as a podcast
• (53:41) - Building a company to compete with yourself like Freshbooks
• (55:39) - How might Transistor change bringing in new features?
• (01:04:07) - Design OS updates
• (01:09:01) - Why is Brian working all the time and feeling urgency?
• (01:16:26) - Marketing for developers in 2026
• (01:30:37) - Founder led marketing is key
• (01:36:27) - Where are the real products being built with AI? Is AI actually speeding me up?
• (01:46:31) - Do I need to make as much money as possible now?

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Links mentioned in this episode:

• OpenClaw (Clawdbot)
• Brian’s crew of AI agents that live on his Mac Mini
• OpenClaw popularity on GitHub over time
• Demo of Justin’s video hosting app
• The story of how Freshbooks created a fake company to launch a new version of their product
• Justin's interview with Lars Lofgren

Jordan Gal joins The Panel to get some thoughts out about how software development feels like it's shifted since the holiday break, the lowering cost of making a mistake, how his team has to get ready for the new AI first workflow, marketing in the age of AI, and what happens to funding startups when anyone can build the app?

Timestamps:

• (00:06) - Welcome
• (00:20) - Introducing Jordan
• (01:34) - The world changed over the holiday break
• (12:17) - The cost of making a making a mistake used to be higher
• (25:38) - Get ready. This is not optional.
• (28:34) - Senior engineers have to adapt
• (42:18) - How do organizations and teams adapt?
• (47:59) - What needs to change so rapidly about Rosie?
• (55:08) - How AI has averaged marketing
• (01:22:23) - What happens to funding for startups in 2026?

• 🎤 Send us an audio or video message
• 📧 Email us: panelpodcastshow@gmail.com
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Links mentioned in this episode:

• ✨ Rose AI
• 👤 Jordan Gal
• 🛠️ Langdock AI
• 🐦 Adam Wathan & Tailwind Sponsors
• 💡 DHH on AI Agents
• 🔨 Builder Methods (Build with AI)
• 🎙️ Transistor.fm (podcast hosting)