The failure mode nobody talks about: the agent writes good code for the wrong idea

A Reddit user discusses a common failure mode in agent-coding: agents producing good code for the wrong idea, rather than poor code quality. The user developed a coding harness that addresses this by having the agent restate the idea, then interview the user with one question at a time, where subsequent questions depend on previous answers. This method, inspired by Matt Pocock's grill-me skill, helps clarify ambiguity and ensures the agent builds the correct product, inferring details like field names and date formats.

Unlike most discussions focusing on code quality, this report highlights the less-discussed failure mode of agents producing good code for the wrong idea, offering a specific interaction method to address it.