Slack Insights

Tech leaders share their experiences implementing AI-powered development tools like Cursor and Devin.ai, discussing adoption rates, productivity impacts of 25-30%, and methods for measuring engineering efficiency gains.

Announcement of an upcoming masterclass on May 28, 2025, focused on using AI to build features within existing enterprise codebases, with strong community interest shown through 65 reactions.

Announcement of a masterclass on using AI to build features within existing enterprise codebases, with strong community interest shown through 79 reactions and follow-up questions about access and recordings.

A discussion about DKB (German bank) implementing OpenAI's Agentic AI raises concerns about European organizations using US-based AI services for privacy-sensitive data, with participants debating sovereignty issues and suggesting EU-based alternatives.

A discussion among tech leaders sharing their experiences implementing Model Context Protocol (MCP) in different contexts, with offers to exchange notes on implementation challenges, security considerations, and SDK choices.

Discussion about implementing Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) using Microsoft's AI stack to create a chat interface for querying company-specific quality management documents, with users sharing experiences and challenges with Azure AI Foundry.

Community members share their hands-on experiences with Lovable.dev, highlighting its strengths for quick prototyping and UI generation while noting limitations like error loops and debugging challenges.

A tech leader seeks experiences with authentication and authorization for Agentic AI implementations (both first-party and third-party tool calling), prompting community members to share emerging standards and protocols worth exploring.

Tech leaders discuss their experiences implementing Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and clients, sharing resources and addressing authentication challenges in federated environments.

A discussion about recommended software translation tools that integrate well with development workflows, featuring experiences with Localazy, Phrase, Transifex, and Lokalise with focus on CI/CD integration capabilities.

Alert about a vulnerability in the GitHub MCP Server with a brief discussion on its severity and exploitation conditions.

A discussion about the practical usage, costs, and effectiveness of Devin AI in mature software projects, with mixed feedback about its performance and value compared to alternatives like Codex, Jules, and Cursor AI.

Discussion about the release of Claude 4 and Claude Code 1.0.2, focusing on model capabilities, increasing costs, and comparative performance against other AI models like Gemini and OpenAI.

Tech leaders discuss their experiences implementing Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and clients, sharing insights on security, authentication, and technical approaches while offering to collaborate on solutions.

A tech leader at a Microsoft-centric company (~500 employees) seeks advice on implementing Microsoft Project company-wide for cross-functional teams, receiving a detailed response about implementation challenges, cultural considerations, and the gap between executive expectations and practical realities.

Discussion about replacing expensive ATS software with more affordable alternatives like Notion or Asana for a company of ~45 people hiring 1-3 roles per month, with participants sharing experiences from Personio, Asana, and custom Notion setups.

A community member shared EthanGPT, a custom GPT created by former Amazon VP Ethan Evans that serves as a CTO/VP mentor by leveraging his newsletters, LinkedIn posts, and YouTube video transcripts.

A member seeks recommendations for security auditing firms to check for potential backdoors left by a contractor in a food business's critical IT systems, receiving several specific company suggestions from the community.

A thread sharing an ArsTechnica article and research revealing how Meta has been deanonymizing Android users by monitoring all browser activity through local ports and connecting it to Instagram and Facebook user identities.

Discussion about whether ISO27001 certification requires criminal background checks (Polizeiliches Führungszeugnis) in Germany, with multiple companies sharing their varied approaches to compliance and candidate experience.

A discussion seeking recommendations for SaaS applications with effective table interfaces that handle large datasets smoothly, resulting in several specific product and library suggestions.

Community members share and endorse useful tools for verifying email security configurations including SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and MTA-STS.

Discussion about the release of Claude 4 and Claude Code 1.0.2, including pricing details, token cost analysis, and recommendations for using custom modes with different AI models for specific tasks.

Multiple tech leaders report disappointing experiences with Google's Jules AI tool, citing high latency, failures to complete tasks, and poor performance compared to GitHub Copilot Workspace.

Discussion about how AI tools trained on Stack Overflow content are now making the original platform increasingly irrelevant for developers seeking coding help.

A warning about MCP servers running on public IPs sparked a technical discussion about authentication issues and multitenancy concerns when implementing MCP servers, particularly with Snowflake integration.

Discussion about integrating GitHub MCP Server with AI coding tools like Windsurf and Cursor to automate GitHub actions such as issue creation, branch management, and PR generation.

Discussion about the upcoming Cursor v0.50 release and its continued lack of browser preview and Chrome Developer tools integration, with participants sharing alternative tools like Stagewise and Windsurf that offer these capabilities.

Article shared about Alibaba's ZeroSearch technology that enables AI to simulate search instead of using external search engines, potentially reducing training costs by 88% and democratizing AI development.

A community member shared an upcoming O'Reilly online event about coding with AI featuring notable speakers like Kent Beck and Gergely Orosz, followed by a post-event summary highlighting diverse perspectives on AI coding workflows.

A discussion on whether low-code/no-code platforms like Retool are becoming less relevant as AI-driven natural language coding emerges, with mixed perspectives on their continued utility depending on user technical expertise.

A tech leader at medavis is seeking recommendations for AI solutions to automate customer support channels (email, chatbot, phone), receiving suggestions for specific tools like flowiseai, Ultimate.ai, and lautmaler.de.

Discussion about seven.io incorrectly flagging valid mobile numbers, with Vonage suggested as an alternative before identifying the root cause as a carrier routing change.

A brief exchange about alternative tools for non-core product services where Front is recommended as a superior support inbox solution over Pylon and Plain due to its personal inbox integration capability, with Linear also mentioned for product management.

Announcement of Ayzeo, a new tool designed to optimize websites for both traditional search engines and AI systems like ChatGPT, with a special discount offered to community members.

Discussion about a court order requiring OpenAI to permanently store all ChatGPT conversations, including API calls, raising significant privacy and legal discovery concerns.

Four tech leaders share their negative experiences with Jules AI, citing issues with simple task failures, timeouts, and lack of a local client compared to alternatives like Claude Code.

Tech leaders share and demonstrate their experiences with cutting-edge AI content generation tools Mirage (for video/lipsync) and Suno (for music creation), highlighting the impressive quality and time-saving benefits.

Tech leaders share hands-on experiences with Factory.ai, comparing its capabilities to alternatives like Claude Code and Windsurf, ultimately finding it functional but not superior to existing tools.

A developer shares their detailed process of building a personal website using AI tools like v0 and Cursor, from requirements gathering to deployment, with another member sharing a similar approach using alternative tools.

A community member announces an upcoming Vibe Coding masterclass with a relatable video about programming challenges, generating interest from other members who inquire about registration.

A tech leader seeks advice on migrating from Flutter to React Native or NativeScript to simplify their tech stack and leverage their React developers, receiving feedback about the benefits of React Native with Expo ecosystem despite some limitations.

A brief exchange about using Heyflow for funnel prototyping, including its benefits for quick go-to-market strategies and limitations that eventually led to developing internal tooling.

A tech leader seeking recommendations for headhunters specializing in manager-of-managers positions in Munich received several personal referrals to specific recruiters and agencies from community members.

A tech leader seeks recommendations for email service providers after experiencing recurring deliverability issues with Mailgun for Microsoft domains (Hotmail), considering Twilio/Sendgrid as alternatives based on past positive experiences with their Microsoft relationships.

A member seeking advice on regulatory requirements for a p2p payment startup receives offers to connect with fintech experts, including a former CFO of Nuri (formerly Bitwala).

Tech leaders discuss whether low-code/no-code platforms like Retool are becoming obsolete as AI-driven natural language coding emerges, with perspectives on security, target audiences, and market viability.

The thread shares and compares various tools for testing email authentication protocols including SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and MTA-STS, with participants recommending options like dmarctester.com, uriports.com, dmarcdkim.com, and dmarcian.com.

A community member shared information about an upcoming O'Reilly online event on Coding with AI featuring prominent tech leaders like Kent Beck and Gergely Orosz, with positive reception but limited follow-up discussion.

A brief discussion about a tweet from Fiverr's CEO regarding AI disruption and the need to become exceptional at your craft to avoid career obsolescence, with varying interpretations among participants.

OpenAI has reached an agreement to acquire startup Windsurf for $3 billion, representing a significant acquisition in the AI industry.

A tech leader seeks recommendations for better alternatives to incumbent non-core product service tools like Intercom and Chargebee, receiving suggestions for Front (described as a 'game changer') and Linear for product management.

A member requested recommendations for a freelance PPC consultant to help with cleaning up accounts and setting up new Google/Microsoft Ads campaigns, receiving one specific LinkedIn recommendation.

A brief discussion about Task-Master.dev, an AI-driven development tool using PRD-based approach, where one user reports instability issues that led them to build their own simpler alternative.

Brief exchange about AI coding tools where one member asks about Blitzy and Factory.ai, with others sharing their experience with Devin.ai and plans to try OpenAI's Codex.

Announcement of Windsurf's new AI model lineup including SWE-1 with frontier-level capabilities (free for Pro users), SWE-1-Lite replacing Cascade Base (free for all), and SWE-1-Mini for tab completion.

A tech leader seeks help accessing North Data to benchmark their company's financial performance (EBITDA, revenue) against the German market, offering payment for assistance while exploring alternative data sources.

A request to connect with others using Hubspot for both marketing and sales in larger organizations (50+ sales people), with one respondent sharing positive past experiences and current CRM evaluation process.

A brief exchange about initial experiences with the Cursor 1.0 release, focusing on improved UX, privacy mode limitations, and hesitation to use it on company repositories.

A brief discussion about Google's new Flow tool, highlighting its limited availability (not in Germany) and requirement for personal Google accounts.

A request for recommendations to find a mathematician specializing in optimization theory received suggestions to check universities or contact the CTO of DBtune who works with database optimization algorithms.

A community member seeks recommendations for physical book scanners with OCR capabilities, receiving suggestions ranging from software solutions to creative hardware approaches, though finding affordable options for glued books remains challenging.

A brief announcement of OpenMemory MCP, a tool that helps maintain context between AI sessions, powered by Qdrant.tech.

A request for tech leaders to complete a brief survey about AI Inference API providers with focus on European alternatives, data sovereignty, and performance considerations, with promise to share aggregated findings.

A user seeks recommendations for unsupervised tools to identify themes in 500 email bodies after finding jsLDA's implementation of topic modeling too limited, with a brief response noting that o4-mini also uses LDA.

A brief exchange seeking experiences with Google Cloud air-gapped environments, where one participant shared they have experience with other air-gapped setups but not specifically with Google Cloud.

A community member shared a Twitter/X post that resonated positively with others, as evidenced by the two joy reactions it received.