Ewan Mc Phail, Principal AI Engineer at DVT.
As organisations accelerate their use of AI in software development, many teams are encountering new delivery questions: while AI can generate code at unprecedented speed, where does accountability now belong? Decisions about architecture, constraints and trade‑offs still sit firmly with engineers, and when those decisions have been automated, risk may have been amplified.
This dynamic will be explored in an upcoming DVT Insights webinar on 28 May. Guest speaker Ewan Mc Phail will explain why spec‑driven development is becoming essential for teams to deliver software faster without losing control over critical engineering decisions.
At the heart of the session is a question many engineering teams are now confronting: when AI is writing code, who actually owns the outcome?
Mc Phail, Principal AI Engineer at DVT, will examine how spec‑driven development helps teams retain agency in AI‑assisted delivery. By making intent, assumptions and non‑negotiables explicit upfront, the approach ensures automation executes decisions rather than inventing them, even as requirements evolve during delivery.
Spec‑driven development, Mc Phail argues, treats AI as a thinking and planning partner rather than an autopilot. Used well, it helps teams clarify intent early, surface gaps before they become defects and ensure automation supports, rather than replaces, engineering judgment.
Drawing on a recent project experience, Mc Phail will focus on hands‑on delivery work rather than theoretical models or research‑driven frameworks. The session will walk through how this approach works in practice, from capturing constraints and non‑negotiables to using AI to surface and challenge assumptions, and moving with confidence from planning into implementation.
“I still love to code,” Mc Phail says. “The goal isn’t to hand thinking over to AI. With the right approach, it can give developers more control and more opportunity, not less.”
The webinar positions spec‑driven development as a practical discipline for modern engineering teams, helping to reduce ambiguity early, surface issues before they become costly and keep accountability with those ultimately responsible for delivery outcomes: software engineering teams.
Rather than relying on branded methodologies, the session focuses on the lived reality of software delivery: compressed timelines, shifting requirements and an increasing dependence on automation.
The webinar will include a 30‑minute presentation followed by a moderated Q&A led by DVT’s Karl Fischer, executive head: Strategic digital services. It is aimed at CTOs, engineering team managers, developers, architects, technical leads and engineering managers navigating AI‑enabled delivery environments.
To register for the DVT Insights webinar, visit: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/001e7ebf-968a-4235-a738-72293a95bb7c@da42b32f-4d0b-4079-951f-eb1dbea4e2c4
