AI Agents, Friction, and the Future of Developer Experience

AI agents are transforming how we write, test, and ship software — but are they actually improving the developer experience? Recorded live at AWS Summit London, Romain is joined by Tomasz Ptak — AWS AI Hero and Senior Engineer at Duco — for a candid conversation about developer experience friction in the age of AI agents. We explore what happens when teams adopt AI coding assistants without thinking about the developer workflow holistically — from context overload and broken feedback loops to the hidden costs of AI-generated code that nobody reviewed. The conversation draws on Werner Vogels' 'Renaissance Developer' keynote from re:Invent 2025, where he argued that developers need to be broader thinkers, not just faster coders. Tomasz shares his perspective on what great developer experience looks like when AI agents are part of the picture, how the AWS AI League is helping developers build real agent skills through gamified competition, and why critical thinking about AI adoption matters more than blind acceleration. We also discuss psychological safety in engineering teams — drawing on Brené Brown's work on vulnerability — and why the best developer tools are the ones you barely notice, as Don Norman taught us decades ago. Whether you are building AI agents, designing internal developer platforms, or evaluating how AI tools fit into your team's workflow, this conversation offers a grounded, human-centered perspective on reducing friction and improving developer experience in 2026 and beyond.With Tomasz Ptak (linkedin.com/in/tomasz-ptak), AWS AI Hero, Senior Engineer at Duco• AWS AI League — Gamified AI Competition (aws.amazon.com/ai/aileague)AWS AI League 2026 Championship — BuilderCenter (builder.aws.com/content/3Ccl1dhO4yAsAB8vdUkJW3…)Tomasz Ptak's Blog — mediocr.is (mediocr.is)Frictionless — Nicole Forsgren & Abi Noda (developerexperiencebook.com)Think Again — Adam Grant (adamgrant.net/thinkagain)Rising Strong — Brené Brown (brenebrown.com/book/strong-ground)The Design of Everyday Things — Don Norman (amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Don-Norman/d…)Tomasz Ptak — AWS Machine Learning Hero (aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/toma…)