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Grill-Me, Memento-Driven Development, and 'Leading Words' for Better Agent Output
The Pragmatic Engineer·September 17, 2026
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Summary
Matt Pocock (creator of the 'grill-me' skill) shares concrete techniques: having the agent interview the user before starting work to front-load context, 'strategic vs. tactical programming' as the new engineer/agent division of labor, precise vocabulary ('tracer bullet') that measurably improves agent output, and 'memento-driven development' — optimizing the codebase for a colleague with no memory each session.
Why this signal
Several immediately testable techniques for improving delegation reliability (grill-me pattern, leading words) that fit squarely in focus area #1 and could be trialed by Thomas Engineering this week.
Original email
The Pragmatic Engineer · 9/17/2026
AI Skills with Matt Pocock