Benedikt Stemmildt

When Benedict was ten years old, he took his father's computer apart piece by piece, driven by the relentless desire to understand how it really works. Twenty years later, after building systems as a developer, designing platforms as a software architect, and leading teams as a CTO, he noticed a recurring pattern: even though tools were getting better, development teams in companies were becoming increasingly unproductive. Experienced developers were growing frustrated with their daily work, and even with talented engineers, code quality was declining.

The same curiosity that had led Benedikt to understand computers back then now prompted him to get to the bottom of the phenomenon. The answer surprised him: it wasn't the developers or their skills, but how they were forced to interact with the new generation of AI engineering assistants.

As an advocate of agent-based software engineering, Benedikt now helps CTOs overcome developers' resistance to AI assistants by transforming AI frustration into reliable productivity. Using agent-based software engineering and context engineering practices, developers become confident AI craftsmen. They maintain the joy of programming while managing the technical debt from generative AI through systematic AI development.

Benedikt is a passionate software architect, full-stack developer and speaker with a passion for technology, architecture and organisation. He develops and operates data-driven software with a focus on customer value. He also enjoys educating and training himself and others and is a founding member of Hacker School.