#6 (EN): Vibe Coding vs. Standardization

# Me, Myself & I.T. Leadership — Vibe Coding vs.
Standardization


## Episode summary


Daniel and Nova discuss how Vibe Coding changes the economics of
software delivery: custom solutions become dramatically cheaper
to build, but not necessarily cheaper to operate. The episode
argues for **Smart Standardization** instead of reflexive radical
standardization.


## Key ideas


- Vibe Coding can reduce the one-time build cost of software from
weeks to days.


- Cheap customization can become dangerous when lifetime
maintenance costs are ignored.


- Radical standardization made sense when custom software was
expensive, but that assumption is shifting.


- The new discipline is to standardize the foundation while
allowing carefully governed differentiation at the edge.


- Prompts, agents, Markdown instructions, and AI guardrails
become new standardization objects.


- AI can help estimate and challenge lifetime costs
independently, reducing political bias.


## Daniel’s three-layer model


1. **Foundation:** uncompromising standardization of code base,
core processes, prompts, agents, and guardrails.


2. **Edge:** Vibe Coding for real competitive advantages, but
only when attributable market value exceeds lifetime costs.


3. **Earn Your Place loop:** successful edge solutions move into
the standard foundation; weak ones are refactored or killed.


## Core takeaway


Vibe Coding is not a reason to abandon standardization. It is a
reason to make standardization smarter: standardize what enables
scale, individualize where there is measurable value, and
continuously clean up what no longer earns its place.