What is the system of record for software production?

· Bits and Bobs 4/13/26
  • What is the system of record for software production?
    • Until recently it was the codebase in GitHub.
    • But only engineers could speak code.
    • Designers had their system of record in Figma.
    • PMs had their system of record in Notion.
    • All three systems have a push and pull.
    • The center of gravity wasn't ever actually in the code itself.
    • It was above the code, the center point of these three orbiting needs.
    • A dark matter star at the semantic center of the definition of the software.
    • But now LLMs can translate from anything to anything.
    • For the first time it's possible to have that meta-boundary-object of the actual software definition, in a language everyone on the team can interact with.
    • Note that the system of record for code is not assembly, it's the source code.
    • There's a compilation process that deterministically generates software that behaves as you'd expect.
      • It doesn't have to generate the exact same assembly each time, it just has to work the same at the human level of visibility.
    • People have talked about specs being the new center of gravity of software, but current specs have nowhere near the specificity to generate software output deterministically.
    • But LLMs could help specs be precise enough to have that characteristic!

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