What AI Enables: The Great Capability Multiplier

I. Capability Multiplier

I retired from the corporate world in June of last year, and while I certainly miss that steady paycheck, I enjoy having the time for doing things that were difficult with a full time job.". This blog, Silver Pixels and Suitcases (SPAs?) is my attempt to share some of my interests, what I am learning with and about AI on the technical front, the impact of Digital Life on silver-haired people, and some pictures of our recent trips.

Though I have been in the software development field for decades, I was progressively "Peter-Principled [1]" to the point that I was managing large teams, and while I was able to stay up to date with technology, I could no longer write decent code.

Some call it "vibe coding" – that intuitive flow where you describe what you want and AI helps bring it to life. For me, AI has been a massive capability booster. AI has fundamentally transformed development from what would have been a months-long marathon into a days-long sprint. AI amplifies my existing capabilities in ways that feel almost magical.

The folk culture of software development used to talk about the mythical 10X programmer [2][3][4]. I speculate that AI has transformed my capabilities from perhaps a 0.5X programmer to may be a 5X programmer. I am not deluded; the former 10X programmers can now be 100X as their deeper knowledge of the core technologies is an even bigger multiplier. For now, let me postulate that if you are a technology leader in product management, product development, QA, DevOps, security, it's imperative that you get hands on with these new AI tools. Or you'll be looking at early retirement or an entertaining job in the gig economy.

We will hopefully explore, in part 3 of this series, the implications of #justbecauseican in the corporate product development world.

Example 1: This Blog Platform

This very blog illustrates the point perfectly. Yes, I'm aware that WordPress, Ghost, and countless other content management systems exist. But I wanted something different – something simpler, more tailored to my specific needs, and something that would keep me learning about the latest technologies.

Building a custom blog platform from scratch would traditionally involve weeks of architecting the database, designing the UI, implementing authentication, creating admin interfaces, setting up deployment pipelines, and countless other technical tasks. With AI as my development partner, I was able to:

• Design and implement a clean, minimal interface - 3 days.
• Generate ~60% of the content through AI assistance, allowing me to focus on the unique insights and personal experiences
• Create 100% of the images using AI generation, eliminating the need for stock photos or graphic design skills.
• Rapidly iterate on features and styling without really having to code, just directing in english

There are a few mistakes on the generated images, which I leave as an exercise to point out

The result is a platform that's perfectly suited to my needs while serving as a continuous learning laboratory for new technologies. Would I recommend this approach on a corporate job? NO. But it you don't know what's possible, you wouldn't be able to select a good vendor or push them to the realm of the possible.

Example 2: The Plans4Trips Application

The Plans4Trips project (www.plans4trips.com) represents an even more ambitious example of AI-enabled development. This application tackles the particular challenge of travel planning for groups of friends or families. In my particular case, for my family of 3 children, 5 grandchildren, living in 3 different cities, with diverse interests in activities, planning a joint Christmas or Easter vacation is a logistical nightmare. Excel was impossible and the tens of commercial travel applications pushing you towards tours, hotels, attractions, popups, etc. was exasperating.

So #justbecauseican, I created Plans4Trips, to help us solve our traveling planning an logistics. See for example the itinerary comparison page for our upcoming Christmas vacation. This is an even more dramatic example of amplication, where I, a 0X designer, was able to use AI to develop a decent interface. Comments on the logo are welcomed, but a nicely designed professional logo would be greatly appreciated 😃

Without AI assistance, building such a platform would have been unrealistic for me. Most of the code was developed by writing instructions for Cursor to generate TypeScript, SQL, CSS, Tailwind, a Next.js front end, and the API with supabase as the database.

The scope would be daunting enough to discourage me. But with AI as a force multiplier, I was able to:

• Rapidly prototype and test different architectural approaches
• Generate the API layer and the postman tests
• Iterate on user interface designs with immediate feedback
• Handle complex business logic with AI-assisted problem-solving

The platform demonstrates how AI doesn't just speed up development – it makes previously impractical projects suddenly feasible for individual creators.

In the following posts of this series I would discuss the technology stack and tools that I am using, always looking for your feedback and ideas on how to amplify better, #justbecausewecan.

Citations

• [1] Peter, L. J., & Hull, R. (1969). The Peter principle. New York: W. Morrow
• [2] The mythical 10x programmer - https://antirez.com/news/112
• [3] The 10x Programmer Myth - Simple Thread https://www.simplethread.com/the-10x-programmer-myth/
• [4] Stop saying 10x developer : r/programming - Reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/wxcupm/stop_saying_10x_developer/

This post explores the transformative impact of AI on development workflows and personal capabilities. It's part of my ongoing exploration of how emerging technologies are reshaping what's possible for individual creators and enterprises alike.