The Dark Software Factory Is a Lie

Tue, 18 Aug 2026 09:00:00 -0400

The Siren Song of the “Dark Factory”

If someone offers to give me software for free, I’ll take it.

Honestly, who wouldn’t? The promise of the “Dark Software Factory” is oh-so seductive. It’s a Level 5¹ autonomy fantasy where you turn off the lights, lock the doors, and let the machines churn. You feed raw text into a LLM at night, and by morning, a flawless, production-ready feature exits the pipeline. No meetings, no handoffs, and most importantly, no expensive, messy human beings.

Writing on Lean Software Production

The Dark Software Factory Is a Lie

The Siren Song of the “Dark Factory”