Over the last 30–40 years, our industry has through several necessary corrections.

Over the last 30–40 years, our industry has through several necessary corrections.

In the 80s and 90s, architecture was often heavy, slow, and over-documented. Agile emerged for good reasons: faster feedback, empowered teams, and continuous learning. That shift delivered real value.

But somewhere along the way, we didn’t just simplify architecture — we quietly removed an entire layer: intent.

Purpose remained (vision, mission).

Execution accelerated (sprints, CI/CD).

But the middle layer — where tradeoffs are made explicit — faded away.

For a long time, experienced teams compensated. Humans filled in the gaps.

AI changes that.

AI executes literally, optimizes locally, and scales instantly. Without clear intent, it doesn’t just move fast — it amplifies ambiguity. That’s not an AI problem; it’s an organizational one.

What I think we’re seeing now is a quiet renaissance. Not a return to heavyweight design, and not a rejection of agile teams — but a reintroduction of intent-driven architecture as a lightweight control layer between purpose and execution.

Agile teams still matter. Speed still matters.

But clarity at the decision level matters again.

My bet: 2026 is the year intent becomes explicit again — not as bureaucracy, but as a necessary foundation for human + AI systems at scale.

This one’s strong, measured, and very postable.