---
title: "The Done List"
description: "AI agents are revolutionizing productivity by transforming traditional to-do lists into 'done lists' of completed work awaiting approval. Learn how the disappearing middle of work changes everything about planning \u0026 productivity."
categories: ["AI","engineering"]
keywords: ["AI agents","software engineering","done list","Kanban","Vibe Kanban","Gastown","Conductor","Karri Saarinen","Linear","agent managers"]
ai_summary: "AI agents are transforming software development from a to do list model to a 'done list' model, where humans review completed work rather than managing open tasks. This shift minimizes the 'middle' of coding \u0026 emphasizes intent \u0026 outcome verification."
date: 2026-01-05
lastmod: 2026-07-31
canonical_url: https://www.tomtunguz.com/coding-kanban/
author: "Tomasz Tunguz"
---


For decades, the to-do list has been a catalog of debt, a deceptively thin list of items to do, with icebergs of work hidden beneath the surface.

AI transforms tasks to work that has _already_ been done.

[Vibe Kanban](https://www.vibekanban.com/), [Gastown](https://github.com/steveyegge/gastown), & [Conductor](https://www.conductor.build/) are the first instantiations of this for software developers. They have jargon-laden descriptions like “multi-agent orchestrator” or “visualizer,” but they are, at heart, simple & beautiful Kanban boards of done & dusted work.

[Karri Saarinen of Linear](https://x.com/karrisaarinen/status/2007534281011155419) describes this shift as the disappearing middle :

> When the middle disappears or blends in, what becomes more in focus is the work of forming the right intent & making sure the outcome actually meets it.

As long as I've worked with computers, the middle of computer work has been the most important & time-consuming part.

An idea came quickly. The finished product - code, presentation, email, or spreadsheet - shipped in moments. Most of the effort was pushing pixels, writing code, or massaging formulas.

As AI improves, & [it has very meaningfully in the last few months](https://tomtunguz.com/gemini-3-proves-pretraining-scaling-laws-intact/), AI completes more of the middle. In fact, planning & evaluation become the two most important parts of MacBook manipulation.

[Gergely Orosz](https://x.com/GergelyOrosz/status/2007451804380926453) captures this perfectly :

> When I just started out developing I remember being so so so full of ideas that I was coding in my head and wished I could have done programming while commuting / on the bus. With eg a phone. But it was impossible, ofc. Now it's possible!!

Sometimes I lie awake wondering how to capture more of my thoughts for AI to work on while I sleep.

How do I describe the piece of software I want written, or the design of a particular image? How do I specify the layout & structure of a PowerPoint presentation or a blog post?

Design becomes more essential ; the clarity of intent becomes the limiting factor for our productivity.

The to-do list has become the done list, & it is waiting, patiently, for [your approval](/how-many-agents-can-you-manage/).