We now have Kerr’s Law (Interview)

Dave Kerr, creator of Hacker Laws, returns to The Changelog after six years to discuss what he sees as the core limitation on modern development teams: the struggle to keep everyone's mental model synchronized with the system they're building. Adam Stacoviak coins this 'Kerr's Law' during the conversation. Dave explains how his team treats code review as a deliberate slowdown for synchronization, how their tool Shellwright lets AI agents bring evidence to pull requests, and what living with bipolar disorder has taught him about recognizing when the excitement of agentic tools crosses into unhealthy territory.