Fiona Fung: AI Automates Manager Routines, Prioritizes Quality
Anthropic's Fiona Fung shares how AI moves engineering managers from tracking to impact. Learn the 'Bad vs. Sad' framework for quality.
Building the most AI-pilled engineering team in the world | Fiona Fung (Anthropic)
With Lenny Rachitsky, Fiona Fung · Sunday, June 21, 2026
Fiona Fung, leader of Claude Code and Co-work teams at Anthropic, discusses the profound transformation of software engineering due to AI. She shares insights on managing high-velocity engineering teams, fostering a builder mindset, maintaining quality, and the shift towards asynchronous work and increased agency for engineers. Fiona also touches on the importance of dogfooding, the challenges of preventing a growing divide between AI-native and non-AI-native professionals, and the evolving role of managers in an AI-first world.
Key takeaways
- AI tools like Claude now automate daily manager routines, transforming oversight from manual tracking to an agent-assisted process for generating feedback and even pull requests. Read more →
- Anthropic engineers increased their code output by an astounding 8x between 2021 and 2025, largely due to AI tools. Read more →
- Find new products by watching how users hack your tools. Anthropic doesn't just ask users what they want; they watch what users do. Fiona Fung calls this "latent demand." For example, seeing non-coders try to use Claude Code led them to build Claude for Small Business. Read more →
- AI-driven productivity can lead to engineer isolation. Fiona Fung, who leads Claude Code at Anthropic, observed that her team started feeling lonely due to extensive solo work with agents, prompting new social initiatives. Read more →
5 articles from this episode
Anthropic's 8x Code Velocity: AI Makes Coding a Non-Bottleneck
Anthropic's Fiona Fung reveals engineers now ship 8x more code. Discover the AI-Augmented Engineering Productivity Principles that freed them from coding bottlenecks.
Anthropic's Secret: Spot Latent Demand, Hire Builders with Product Sense
Fiona Fung reveals how Anthropic finds new products by observing user 'latent demand' and details their hiring strategy for 'creative builders with product sense.'
AI Isolation? Anthropic Fights Back With Pair Lunches & Process Killers
Fiona Fung at Anthropic reveals how AI-native teams combat engineer loneliness and bloat. Adopt JIT planning and kill useless processes.
Don't Fear AI: Fiona Fung's Action Framework for Founders
Anthropic's Fiona Fung shares her framework to conquer AI fear and frustration. Learn to identify control and take action to avoid falling behind in the AI-native world.
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