Intent-Oriented Software Engineering

Preface

This is a systematic guide about the future form of software engineering. When large model agents possess powerful execution capabilities, human core value will completely shift from “How to implement” to “What to implement” and “Why implement it.”

This book systematically explores the complete path of transition from traditional software engineering to “intent-oriented software engineering.” Whether you are a technical manager, architect, developer, or entrepreneur, you can gain profound insights and practical guidelines about the future of software engineering from this book.

Reading Suggestions

Progressive Reading: This book is organized in a progressive logic of “Understanding → Transition → Practice → Outlook,” it is recommended to read in order
Combine with Practice: Each chapter comes with practical templates and checklists, it is recommended to try them out in your team while reading
Continuous Iteration: Intent-oriented software engineering is still rapidly evolving, maintain an open mindset and continuously adjust your understanding

Core Concepts Overview

Concept	Definition
Intent	Clear expression of “what is wanted” and “why,” rather than “how to do it”
Business Intent	Top-level business goals, describing value propositions and business logic
Constraint Network	Five-dimensional quality space from passive documentation to executable code (architecture, complexity, security, performance, maintainability), serving as the “quality contract” for human-AI collaboration and the “real-time textbook” for agents
Agent Engineer	Technical role evolving from the execution layer to the orchestration layer, acting as the “chief architect” commanding agent clusters to deliver complex systems

Part I: Foundational Concepts

Chapter 1: What is Intent-Oriented Software Engineering Coming soon
Chapter 2: Why This Transformation is Necessary Coming soon
Chapter 3: Layered Architecture of Intent Coming soon
Chapter 4: Core Differences Between Old and New Paradigms Coming soon

Part II: Evolution and Transformation

Chapter 5: Four Stages of Transition Coming soon
Chapter 6: Reconstruction of Development Process Coming soon
Chapter 7: From Traditional Teams to Atomic Teams Coming soon
Chapter 8: New Documentation Paradigm Coming soon
Chapter 9: Agent Action Protocol Coming soon

Part III: Practical Implementation

Chapter 10: How Managers Guide Team Transformation Coming soon
Chapter 11: Software Engineers Evolving into Agent Engineers Coming soon
Chapter 12: The Evolution of Product Managers Coming soon
Chapter 13: Transformation of Test, Ops, and SRE Engineers Coming soon
Chapter 14: Legacy System Migration Strategy Coming soon
Chapter 15: Capturing and Inheriting Tacit Knowledge Coming soon

Part IV: Future Perspectives

Chapter 16: Entrepreneurial Opportunities in the New Software Engineering Field Coming soon
Chapter 17: Reflections and Warnings from 2050 Coming soon
Chapter 18: Books That Will Retain Value in the Future Coming soon