Top all-time · #9873
Margaret-Anne Storey
Personal blog · margaretstorey.com/blogaiprogramming
Margaret-Anne Storey's personal blog at margaretstorey.com covers ai and programming. Since 2026, 8 different Hacker News readers have linked it 10 times, most often “Generative and Agentic AI Shift Concern from Tech Debt to Cognitive Debt”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-06-23, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (3) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Storey's blog for the 'cognitive debt' concept, which describes how fast AI-assisted development can outpace a team's understanding of its own work. Commenters cite it in AI productivity discussions.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 3 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Professor of Computer Science, University of Victoria Canada Research Chair in Human and Social Aspects of Software Engineering
Most-linked posts?
- Generative and Agentic AI Shift Concern from Tech Debt to Cognitive Debt6 people · 8 mentions · first linked 2026-02-15
What Hacker News says?
I like the "cognitive debt" idea outlined here: https://margaretstorey.com/blog/2026/02/09/cognitive-debt/ (from a participant of the retreat) and especially the pithy "velocity without understanding is not sustainable" phrase.
Comment linking /blog/2026/02/09/cognitive-debt/
on “Why AI Velocity Is Becoming a Debt Accelerator”Submitted What I'm Hearing About Cognitive Debt (So Far) as a story · 25 points
HN discussion> The temptation is to pull the lever 10 times in a row because it was so easy, but now I'll need a few weeks to process the changes as a human Yeah I really feel that! I recently learned the term "cognitive debt" for this from https://margaretstorey.com/blog/2026/02/09/cognitive-debt/ and I think it's a great way to capture this effect. I can churn out features faster, but that means I don't get time to fully absor…
Comment linking /blog/2026/02/09/cognitive-debt/
on “"token anxiety"; or, a slot machine by any other name”Submitted Why a Project May Have Low Cognitive Debt and High Intent Debt as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThis cognitive debt bit from the linked article by Margaret-Anne Storey at https://margaretstorey.com/blog/2026/02/09/cognitive-debt/ is fantastic: > But by weeks 7 or 8, one team hit a wall. They could no longer make even simple changes without breaking something unexpected. When I met with them, the team initially blamed technical debt: messy code, poor architecture, hurried implementations. But as we dug deeper,…
Comment linking /blog/2026/02/09/cognitive-debt/
on “The consequences of task switching in supervisory programming”Submitted Generative and Agentic AI Shift Concern from Tech Debt to Cognitive Debt as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Generative and Agentic AI Shift Concern from Technical Debt to Cognitive Debt as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted How Generative & Agentic AI Shift Concern from Technical Debt to Cognitive Debt as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Generative and Agentic AI Shift Concern from Technical Debt to Cognitive Debt as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted AI Shifts Concern from Technical Debt to Cognitive Debt as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
