Season 27 of the Building Better Developers podcast is focused on one thing: momentum. Not the hype kind—real, practical momentum. The kind you feel when your thinking is clearer, your conversations go smoother, and you stop losing weeks to misunderstandings and rework.
In this Friday Challenge episode, Rob Broadhead and Michael Meloche reflect on a recent interview with Meeky Hwang and pull out a theme that matters for every developer right now: moving things forward depends less on the tech stack you know and more on how well you define problems, communicate outcomes, and evaluate solutions—especially as AI becomes part of everyday work.
The senior-level shift
You don’t level up by writing more code. You level up by improving how you frame problems, define “done,” and guide decisions.Watch the Video: https://youtu.be/hjni_J5o4qE
Why moving things forward starts with better problem statements
Most teams don’t struggle because they can’t build. They struggle because they build the wrong thing, build the right thing too late, or build something that doesn’t match what stakeholders thought they were asking for.
That’s why the skill of problem definition is so valuable. When you can clearly describe what’s happening, what matters, and what success looks like, you make it easier for everyone—developers, product, leadership, customers—to align quickly.
This is also where AI changes the game: it can generate code fast, but it can’t guess your intent unless you communicate it. Clear input creates useful output. Vague input creates expensive confusion.
Quick test
If you can’t explain the problem without mentioning tools, frameworks, or implementation details, you may not understand the problem yet.
What Meeky Hwang’s story shows about moving things forward as a developer
Rob described the interview as one of those conversations that isn’t about giant “value bombs,” but about the smaller ideas that stick with you—little nudges that pull you back toward good habits.
Moving things forward means growing beyond “just code”
A big thread of the conversation is the transition many developers experience: you start deeply technical, and over time, your impact grows when you learn how to build teams, develop people, and think more strategically. You don’t have to stop being technical—but you do need to expand how you think and how you lead.
Rob mentioned how useful it is to talk with people who’ve made that shift from purely technical execution to leadership and entrepreneurship, because it reveals the next set of skills developers need to stay effective.
Moving things forward often requires community, not more hustle
Michael connected Meeky’s experience in a mastermind-style environment to his own: being around other entrepreneurs and builders creates momentum. You absorb energy, you hear how other people are solving problems, and you get reminded that you’re not the only one navigating uncertainty.
That matters even more when you work remotely or spend long stretches “in the trenches.” Sometimes your next step isn’t another productivity hack—it’s finding the right room (or community) to keep your momentum alive.
Practical next step
If your energy has been flat, ask: Who am I regularly learning with? If the answer is “no one,” start there.
Moving things forward in an AI world: clarity beats code
Rob’s point was simple: as AI improves, the “how” becomes easier. The “what” and “why” become more valuable.
He even framed AI as a way to learn faster—try a new language, convert an app you know into a new framework, or use AI to help debug and iterate. But he also made a key warning: AI is only as helpful as the conversation you’re having with it. If you treat it like a command line—“do this, do this, do this”—you miss the real value.
The real value is iteration: clarify the problem, refine the outcome, ask what’s missing, test your assumptions, and keep tightening the definition until the solution makes sense.
A real example: using AI to accelerate a Terraform build
Michael shared a concrete example of using GitHub Copilot to build a Terraform infrastructure project much faster than he could have from scratch. AI generated most of the structure, and he only needed to tweak a few parts. Then he pushed it further: he had AI generate shell scripts to validate the environment using AWS CLI commands—turning the build into something more testable and reliable.
That detail matters: AI didn’t replace expertise. It amplified it. The result was speed and better coverage because the developer knew what to ask for next.
The Friday Challenge to keep moving things forward this week
This week’s challenge is designed to improve one of the most important skills for senior developers: communicating problems and solutions clearly—without relying on “geek speak.”
1) Describe the problem without implementation details
Write down a real problem you’re working on. Keep it simple, but specific:
- What’s happening?
- Who is impacted?
- What’s the cost or risk?
- What does “better” look like?
2) Ask AI to rewrite it for a non-technical audience
Take your description and prompt a chatbot:
- “Rewrite this so a non-technical person understands it.”
- “Rewrite this so my customer understands it.”
- “What questions would a CFO ask about this?”
3) Iterate until the outcome is unmistakable
Now ask:
- What assumptions am I making?
- What’s unclear or missing?
- Can you turn this into a one-page requirements checklist?
- What would a “good solution” be measured by?
Keep it to 15 minutes
You can go down a rabbit hole for hours. Don’t. Do a focused 15-minute pass—and notice what you learn about your own thinking.
Moving things forward: one habit to take into next week
If there’s one takeaway from this episode, it’s this: moving things forward is less about your code output and more about the quality of your problem framing.
Do the challenge once this week. Then do it again next week with a different problem. Over time, you’ll build a mental checklist for defining problems better—and that skill will pay off in every conversation, every project, and every leadership moment.
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