From code to assembly

The developer's world is shifting fast: from coding lines to orchestrating Al agents. In this interview narrative, discover how IT transforms into a governance hub, and why tomorrow's IDEs look more like assembly lines than coding desks

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When Adrian McGrath, Senior Client Partner and Head of Digital Transformation UK and Europe, UST, talks about the future of software development, he doesn't paint a picture of coders buried in syntax or debugging lines of code. Instead, he describes a new kind of ecosystem where AI agents, visual storyboards, and domain-driven thinking redefine the developer's role. For him, the boundaries between business and IT are dissolving, and the workplace of tomorrow looks less like coding terminals and more like an orchestration hub of intelligence, governance, and automation.

Breaking down the old divide

For decades, IT and business units were often at odds: IT seen as a “cost center,” the business as a driver of outcomes. That divide is narrowing quickly. With AI entering the scene, the traditional roles are blending. Business units may increasingly own application creation, but IT remains crucial. Its responsibility shifts toward the nonfunctional backbone, ensuring upgrades, compliance, resilience, and trust. In other words, IT isn't vanishing; it's morphing into the custodian of sustainability and reliability for AI-powered development.

IT as the governance hub