AI agents are moving from copilots to true coding collaborators, but most developers are still flying by feel. Tools like Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and Gemini CLI are powerful, yet few teams know how to harness them fully. Prompts alone aren’t enough; effective agentic coding requires structure, context, and shared understanding.
In this 2-hour hands-on workshop, we’ll go beyond prompting tricks and explore how collaboratively and effectively use coding agents. You’ll learn how to use specs as context, and provide agent guidance to shape behavior and output, teaching them not only what to build, but how to build it, aligned with you organisation's needs. We’ll cover techniques for:
Using specs and structured guidance to steer agents toward better library use, open source and private alike
Integrating team and org policies, coding styles, and conventions directly into agent workflows
Managing multi-agent setups and tool integrations for larger, iterative projects
Through hands on examples, you’ll see how to spercharge your coding agents, turning them into reliable teammates, who understand your stack, your rules, and your goals. If you’ve ever wondered whether your AI agent could be doing more — this session shows you how to make that happen.
Simon Maple is the Founding Developer Advocate at Tessl, previously the Field CTO, and VP Developer Relations at Snyk, ZeroTurnaround, and IBM. He has been a Java Champion since 2014, JavaOne Rockstar speaker in 2014 and 2017, Duke’s Choice award winner, Virtual JUG founder and organiser, and London Java Community co-leader. He is an experienced speaker, having presented at most large conferences in the Java and Security spaces.
Tech industry veteran who transformed from enterprise SAP consultant to open source advocate and community builder. When not presenting thought-provoking talks about technology and society, he can be found recording the Linux Matters podcast, helping strangers debug their tech problems for internet points, or tending to a collection of vintage tech that refuses to die – including a Dualit toaster and lava lamp duo that have reliably warmed his toast and heart since 1997. He believes in the power of well-crafted experiences, whether that’s perfectly toasted bread or thoughtfully designed software. Cat enthusiast, dog appreciator, and firm believer that understanding the past is crucial for building a better technological future.
