Welcome to this week's Top 7, where the DEV editorial team handpicks their favorite posts from the previous week (Saturday-Friday).
Congrats to all the authors that made it onto the list 👏
@gulajavaministudio argues that AI coding agents fail because they start writing code too early, and turns to George Pólya's 1945 book How to Solve It for a fix. They walk through how pairing Pólya's four problem-solving stages with Clean Architecture led to an open-source workflow that makes the agent stop and wait for approval before writing a single line.
@adamthedeveloper has noticed a growing habit of colleagues relaying AI-generated answers in technical discussions instead of offering their own judgment. They make the case for using AI to prepare for a conversation rather than replace your part in it, and offer a few simple guidelines for how AI can aid in workplace discussions.
@sylwia-lask pulls back the curtain on life as a conference speaker, from rejected CFPs and unpaid talks to stage fright that never fully goes away. Drawing on talks across Europe this year, she explains why blogging has done more for her career and why she would still do it all again.
@james_anderson_h digs into the headlines about AI winning literary awards and finds that most cases involve AI-friendly categories, rule-breakers who got caught, or disputed claims. Using a 2026 study of more than 14,000 self-published books, he argues that AI is flooding the book market through volume rather than outwriting human authors.
@hanzla asks whether building in public actually brings in paying customers, looking closely at a modest success, a spectacular one, and a failure. The post explains why these founder stories are weaker evidence than they appear and offers a four-week experiment you can run on your own product.
@ayush_singh_9b0d83152be5b shares what happened when 480 model outputs in their multi-agent research project were all rejected because of the same formatting quirk. They use the experience to show why a system can run exactly as designed and still fail to answer the research question.
@shubhradev invites us into their winter garden planning, from petunias spilling over pots to radishes and strawberries grown for the kitchen. They reflect on how planning a garden resembles designing software, and why it’s nice to have something that can’t be rushed.
And that's a wrap for this week's Top 7 roundup! 🎬 We hope you enjoyed this eclectic mix of insights, stories, and tips from our talented authors. Keep coding, keep learning, and stay tuned to DEV for more captivating content and make sure you’re opted in to our Weekly Newsletter 📩 for all the best articles, discussions, and updates.
Top comments (11)
Congrats @gulajavaministudio, @adamthedeveloper, @sylwia-lask, @james_anderson_h, @hanzla, @ayush_singh_9b0d83152be5b and @shubhradev!!! Good work!
@heyitsjem You got mail :)
Thank you so much, Francis! 😊
Thank you so much to the DEV team for featuring my article! It was a quiet post with only a few likes and comments, so seeing it here was a lovely surprise. With so many great posts going up every day, this really made my day 🙌
And congratulations to everyone else on the list!
@gulajavaministudio, @adamthedeveloper, @james_anderson_h, @hanzla, @sylwia-lask and @shubhradev 🎉
Thank you, Ayush! 😊 And congratulations to you too!
Thank you so much, Jem and the DEV team, for featuring my post! It really means a lot to me. 😊
Congratulations to everyone else featured this week: @gulajavaministudio, @adamthedeveloper, @sylwia-lask, @james_anderson_h, @hanzla and @ayush_singh_9b0d83152be5b! 🎉
Congratulations 🎉🥰
Thank you so much, Divya 😊
Thank you so much! ❤️ And congratulations to everyone else on the list: @gulajavaministudio, @adamthedeveloper, @james_anderson_h, @hanzla, @ayush_singh_9b0d83152be5b and @shubhradev 🎉
Thank you, Sylwia! 😊 And congratulations to you too!
Great posts! Well done everyone!
Congratulations