On the Loop, Not In It — But Code Quality Still Matters

Yesterday one of my AI agents wasted 15 minutes chasing a bug that didn’t exist. The function was called transformPayload() — but it didn’t transform anything. It validated. The agent built three layers of transformation logic on top of it before realizing the name was a lie. I’ve seen this pattern dozens of times now. And it’s exactly why I think Kief Morris’s latest piece gets the big picture right but undersells one critical detail.