My Manifesto for the Senior Architect I’ve been writing software for over 40 years. To me, Large Language Models (LLMs) are just the next step in the evolution of development: they are semantic compilers. But if you treat an AI like a magic oracle, it gives you "average" code, which usually means spaghetti. To get senior-level output, you need a senior-level methodology. I call mine Clean AI Development. It’s built on 7 principles designed to pilot the AI rather than just letting it guess your intent. 1. Deterministic File System Layout Why: AI loses focus when it has to guess where things are. A messy layout leads to duplicated logic and broken imports. How: Stick to a strict, predictable directory structure. The layout itself becomes "implicit documentation" that the AI uses to navigate without wasting tokens. 2. Architectural Sovereignty Why: If the AI decides the architecture, you lose control over the system's long-term viability. How: Define the "hinges" (interfaces, DTOs, API contracts) first.…