Hitzig (2026)
Coding agents make a software background optional, but expertise still decides who succeeds
An analysis of roughly 400,000 Claude Code sessions finds a clear split of labour: people decide what to build, the agent decides how. Command of a domain, not the ability to write code, is what makes sessions succeed.
- 70%
- of planning decisions ('what to do') are made by the person, while Claude makes about 80% of execution decisions
- 2×
- Expert-rated sessions reach verified success more than twice as often as novice-rated ones