First Factory COO Writes for Inc. on Lessons from AI

First Factory COO Don Gregori's Inc. column on an AI agent build: 1 working feature, 11 human interventions, and why senior engineers stay in the loop.

Don Gregori

September 22, 2026

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Lessons from AI

First Factory recently tested the software factory model on a real feature. We gave a team of AI agents a one-line goal, a single-user Kanban board with drag-and-drop cards, and let them write the requirements, build it, test it and ship it without an engineer writing any code. They delivered a working feature, but a human still had to step in 11 times to get it there.

In his latest Inc. column, "1 Feature, 11 Human Interventions," First Factory COO Don Gregori explains what went wrong and what we built so it won't happen again. One agent repeated the same four-minute cycle 78 times. Two of the five bugs our checker agent caught had already passed the builder agent's own tests. His conclusion is that AI build speed is real, and so is the risk it scales, which is why senior engineers need to stay in the loop.

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Don Gregori

COO

Don Gregori is the Chief Operating Officer of First Factory, a multinational software solutions provider based in New York with nearshore operations in Costa Rica. A certified AI Business Leader, Don brings over 25 years of experience helping businesses from startups to Fortune 500 companies navigate product development, digital transformation, and AI adoption. He is a contributing author to The AI Journal and the author of The Emergent Leader, releasing June 16, 2026.

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Lessons from AI

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