AI Development Isn’t an Easy Button - with Aleksander Hakestad (Apart Tech)
What if writing code isn’t actually the most important part of engineering?
In this episode of Futureproof, Prakash Chandran sits down with Aleksander Hakestad, CTO and co-founder at Apart Tech, to explore what it really takes to build software in an AI-native world without losing quality, craft, or control. Aleksander explains why the best leaders stay hands-on so they can evaluate quality, why depth of expertise beats climbing the career ladder, and why communication becomes the true bottleneck in modern engineering - especially across cultures and teams. Together, they unpack a pragmatic model for AI-assisted development where agents touch everything, humans own the architecture, and teams learn fast by setting clear standards, building tight feedback loops, and committing fully to a new way of working.
Topics covered include:
- AI-assisted development is still engineering: Why prompting is only the start - and disciplined iteration is what makes it reliable.
- Hands-on leadership and quality control: Why leaders must stay close enough to the craft to evaluate output and set the bar.
- Communication as the real bottleneck: How visual systems reduce misalignment across teams, languages, and cultures.
- From big teams to small, leveraged teams: How agentic workflows can create outsized throughput with a small core team.
- Depth over titles: Why mastering a domain matters more than career climb - and why expertise is more valuable than ever.
- 00:00 Owning The Outcome In An AI World
Aleksander frames AI-assisted development as serious engineering where humans stay accountable for the end result.
- 02:15 Early Curiosity And The Builder’s Path
He traces his origin story from childhood computers to early projects, and the drive to build that never left.
- 05:45 Choosing Depth Over The Career Ladder
Aleksander shares the realization that staying hands-on mattered more than continuing upward in title and scope.
- 08:33 The Leader’s Job: Evaluate Quality
He argues that managing without technical proximity makes it harder to judge quality and steer good decisions.
- 10:39 Throwing Away The Book At Heimstaden
Why conventional best practices weren’t delivering - and what it looked like to pursue a different approach.
- 13:52 Communication Is The Hard Part
How misunderstanding - not coding - becomes the core challenge, and why visual systems can change team dynamics.
- 16:18 Strategic Execution Requires Commitment
Aleksander explains why transformations fail when leaders go halfway, and how to deal with detractors.
- 20:24 Agentic Workflows From Issue To PR
A walkthrough of a pipeline that turns GitHub issues into PRs with multiple improvement rounds.
- 26:54 Hiring For Leverage And Worrying About The On-Ramp
Why small, high-leverage teams work - and what this shift could mean for junior engineers.
- 29:53 A Practical Model For AI-Assisted Development
Where agents help across the stack, and where humans must retain control over architecture and standards.
- 34:49 Visual Verification And Faster Understanding
Why seeing what’s happening matters for verification, communication, and excitement in the work.
- 37:49 Advice For Leaders And New Developers
How to start small, set quality early, stay curious, and build real depth through exploration and passion.