Compound Engineering Gets an Upgrade Compound engineering, initially a four-step loop of brainstorm, work, review, and compound, has expanded to eight steps by incorporating ‘ideate’ and ‘polish.’ This reflects a shift where AI handles the core ‘work’ phase, while humans focus on defining the initial vision and refining the final output. The core principle remains that each feature should simplify the next, making the process more efficient.

• Compound engineering initially focused on getting AI to plan, execute, review, and learn from feedback in a loop.
• The ‘work’ phase is now largely automated by AI if the plan and context are right.
• Human involvement is now primarily at the beginning (ideation, brainstorming) and the end (polishing, ensuring the experience feels right).
• The expanded loop is Ideate → brainstorm → plan → work → review → polish → compound → repeat.
• The ‘ideate’ and ‘brainstorm’ stages are new additions at the front, and ‘polish’ is a new stage at the end.
• This pattern is applicable beyond coding to broader knowledge work, where automation handles the middle tasks, but human input is crucial at the start and finish for quality and personal touch. Continue reading https://every.to/guides/compound-engineering-gets-an-upgrade