AI Collaboration Lab for Software Developers

Artificial intelligence has transformed software development. Today, AI can generate code, write tests, explain APIs, refactor legacy systems, and produce working solutions in seconds. Yet many teams are discovering that faster code generation doesn’t automatically lead to better software.

The bottleneck has moved. Success now depends less on typing code and more on understanding systems, making sound decisions, creating adaptable designs, guiding AI effectively, and continuously learning.

The AI Collaboration Lab for Software Developers (Collab) is a hands-on learning experience that helps developers build these capabilities. Rather than teaching prompt engineering or the latest AI tool, this Collab develops the timeless engineering practices that become even more valuable in the age of AI.

You’ll learn how to collaborate with AI without sacrificing the principles that have always produced high-quality software.

The experience is organized around five capabilities that professional developers exercise every day.

See teaches you to understand the system before changing it. You’ll learn to describe behavior before coding, recognize the forces that shape a design, and build domain models that reveal the real structure of the problem.

Think develops AI as a reasoning partner rather than an answer machine. You’ll clarify intent, challenge assumptions, and explore alternative approaches before committing to an implementation.

Design focuses on building software that is simple, composable, and easy to verify. Rather than designing for today’s requirements, you’ll learn to design for tomorrow’s changes while preserving clarity and confidence.

Build explores the collaborative practices that produce consistently high-quality results with AI. You’ll learn how to guide AI with examples, constraints, engineering standards, and context so it becomes an effective collaborator instead of an unpredictable code generator.

Reflect helps you continuously improve both your work and your team. You’ll learn how to retrospect with AI, capture successful practices, challenge outdated assumptions, and build a knowledge base that compounds over time.

Throughout the experience you’ll work directly with AI, solve realistic software engineering problems, discuss design decisions with other participants, and leave with practical techniques you can apply immediately.

The AI Collaboration Lab for Software Developers complements—not replaces—the Software Developer Essentials curriculum. The principles of excellent software engineering remain unchanged. The Collab shows how those principles are practiced in a world where AI has become part of every developer’s workflow.

You won’t simply learn how to use AI more effectively.

You’ll become a more capable software developer.

This Collab is part of the AI Capabilities Transformation. See a detailed description of the AI Capabilities Transformation for Developers

About the Instructor

I am David Scott Bernstein and I have spent more than three decades helping software developers build changeable software through Agile, Extreme Programming, test-first development, domain modeling, and design patterns. I have trained more than 10,000 professional developers and I am the author of Beyond Legacy Code and co-author of Prompt Engineering for Everyone with ChatGPT.

I call myself the Passionate Programmer and my mission is to help developers thrive in the age of AI by combining timeless engineering principles with thoughtful human-AI collaboration.

About AI Collaboration Labs

AI Collaboration Labs are interactive learning experiences designed to help professionals develop the capabilities needed to work effectively with artificial intelligence. Rather than focusing on tools or prompt tricks, the Labs emphasize practical thinking, collaboration, experimentation, and reflection. Participants learn by doing—working directly with AI, solving realistic problems, sharing ideas with peers, and building habits they can immediately apply in their daily work.

Bonuses

• AI Collaboration Protocol Pack: individual, team, mob, verifier, and transcript-review cards.
• TutorLMS Quiz Pack: Mirror Test, Transcript Archaeology, Drift or Leverage, Good Test or Blurry Test.
• 30-Day Practice Plan: one small AI collaboration habit per day or week.
• Sample Trace Library: annotated AI transcripts showing drift, leverage, assumptions, resets, and mirrors.
• AI Development Setup Add-On: knowledge base, CLAUDE.md, repo context, team working agreements.
• Team Adoption Add-On: facilitation guide for engineering managers and tech leads.
• Verifiability with AI Add-On: deeper TDD, BDD, tests-as-mirrors, legacy code characterization.
• Certificate / Badge: “AI Collaboration Lab: Human-AI Development Practices.”

Next Steps

If you’re ready to move beyond simply using AI and begin developing the capabilities that define the next generation of professional software developers, join the next ACT for Developers cohort or bring it in house for your team. Discover what becomes possible when timeless software engineering meets thoughtful AI collaboration.

Schedule a call with me, David, and let’s see if we are a good fit for each other. No pressure, just a conversation. Here’s a link to my calendar where you can schedule a call with me – https://tidycal.com/talk-to-david/consultation-with-david