AI-Assisted Development in 2026

Claude Code nearly wiped out a production database while racking up an unexpected AWS bill overnight, and that’s just one of many stories from guest Daniel Cannon. As CIO at Delta Systems and CEO of StriveDB, Daniel joins hosts Aaron Marchbanks and Justin Edwards to share what AI-assisted development actually looks like in 2026: real workflows, real mistakes, and why human review is still non-negotiable. This podcast is brought to you by Delta Systems, your one-stop shop for front-end, back-end, and full-stack software development. At Delta, Justin and Aaron share the same philosophy when it comes to clients: they treat people like colleagues, not just customers. Maybe that’s why Delta typically spends years working with the same companies: how many software engineering firms can you say that about? So, if you’ve got a big SaaS project in mind but have no idea where to start, come and get a free scope and estimate from Delta Systems at: https://deltasystems.com/ Got a burning idea for an episode, or a SaaS question you absolutely must know the answer to? Leave us a voice memo: https://www.speakpipe.com/SaasThatApp

What You’ll Learn:

How to structure an AI-assisted development workflow that delivers 10x speed gains without sacrificing code quality
Why Big Design Upfront (BDUF) is making a comeback with AI
The critical difference between letting AI write code vs. reviewing and refining it
How to build safe, controlled AI agents for sensitive workflows
Why context management directly impacts both cost and code quality

Daniel Cannon is the Chief Innovation Officer at Delta Systems and Founder and CEO of StriveDB, bringing a wealth of experience in modern web development frameworks and architectures. His expertise spans full-stack development, with particular depth in Ruby on Rails and modern JavaScript frameworks. Daniel's hands-on experience with both traditional and cutting-edge technologies, combined with his ability to evaluate technical trade-offs in practical business contexts, provides valuable insights for organizations navigating technology decisions.

This podcast is brought to you by Delta Systems, your one-stop shop for front-end, back-end, and full-stack software development. At Delta, Justin and Aaron share the same philosophy when it comes to clients: they treat people like colleagues, not just customers. Maybe that’s why Delta typically spends years working with the same companies: how many software engineering firms can you say that about? So, if you’ve got a big SaaS project in mind but have no idea where to start, come and get a free scope and estimate from Delta Systems at: https://deltasystems.com/

Got a burning idea for an episode, or a SaaS question you absolutely must know the answer to? Leave us a voice memo: https://www.speakpipe.com/SaasThatApp

Highlights:

[02:07] Daniel's Daily AI Workflow
[03:18] Big Design Upfront Makes a Comeback
[07:37] The Junior Developer Problem
[10:42] Build the Feature, Learn the Lessons, Nuke It, Start Over
[12:15] Role-Playing Your Way to Better Code Review
[16:25] The Developer Who Let AI Patch Production Unsupervised
[20:28] How a Slack Bot Burned Through $500 on AWS in One Day
[24:07] Meet Athena, Poseidon, and Todd Bots
[31:12] When Claude Goes Wrong
[37:31] AI Tools Are Slot Machines for Developers
[40:11] The Bigger Question Nobody in Tech Wants to Answer