---
type: source
title: "The 5 Techniques Separating Top Agentic Engineers Right Now"
description: "The top agentic engineers separate themselves not with new tools but with a disciplined system: a PRD north star, modular rules, commandified workflows, context resets between plan and execution, and treating every bug as a chance to evolve the system."
youtube_id: ttdWPDmBN_4
url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttdWPDmBN_4
slug: the-5-techniques-separating-top-agentic-engineers-right-now
published: 2026-01-07
duration: "0:14:57"
recency_rank: 44
raw: "../raw/the-5-techniques-separating-top-agentic-engineers-right-now.md"
tags: [agentic-coding, context-engineering, system-evolution, commands]
created: 2026-07-21
updated: 2026-07-21
---

Cole lays out five practical, tool-agnostic techniques that distinguish top agentic engineers, all centered on context management and building a repeatable system around your coding agent rather than adopting new tooling. First, PRD-first development: a single markdown product requirement document becomes the project's north star, splitting work into granular features (API, UI, auth) so the agent never does too much at once; for brownfield work it documents what exists plus what to build next. Second, a modular rules architecture: keep the global rule file (CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md) short and universal (tech stack, commands, conventions, logging), then push task-specific detail into a reference folder that the global rules point to, loading heavy context only when relevant to protect the context window.

Third, commandify everything: any prompt you send more than twice should become a reusable slash command (a markdown workflow) for commits, code review, priming, planning, execution, and validation. Fourth, the context reset: because planning always ends by outputting a structured plan document, you can clear the conversation between planning and execution and feed the agent only that plan, leaving maximum room for the agent to reason and self-validate during coding.

Fifth and most important, system evolution: instead of fixing a bug and moving on, ask what in the system (global rules, reference docs, or commands) should change so the issue never recurs, especially when the agent repeatedly hallucinates the same mistake. A wrong import style becomes a one-line rule; a forgotten test becomes a new section in the plan template; a misunderstood auth flow becomes a new reference doc. The mindset is "don't just fix the bug, fix the system that allowed the bug," making the agent more powerful and reliable over time. All commands and a demo habit-tracker repo are provided, alongside the Dynamous Agentic Coding course.

## Concepts covered

- [PRD-First Development](../concepts/prd-first-development.md)
- [Global Rules](../concepts/global-rules.md)
- [Progressive Disclosure](../concepts/progressive-disclosure.md)
- [Context Engineering](../concepts/context-engineering.md)
- [Prime Command](../concepts/prime-command.md)
- [Commandify Everything](../concepts/commandify-everything.md)
- [Slash Commands](../concepts/slash-commands.md)
- [Context Reset](../concepts/context-reset.md)
- [Two-Layer Planning](../concepts/two-layer-planning.md)
- [System Evolution](../concepts/system-evolution.md)

## Entities

- [Claude Code](../entities/tools/claude-code.md)
- [GitHub](../entities/tools/github.md)
- [Dynamous](../entities/organizations/dynamous.md)
- [Cole Medin](../entities/people/cole-medin.md)

## Key moments

- **[0:00:00]** Intro: top agentic engineers have a real system; these techniques require no new tools, just a better way of working
- **[0:00:47]** Technique 1: PRD-first development as the project north star (greenfield vs brownfield)
- **[0:02:18]** Demo repo with core slash commands, including create-PRD command
- **[0:03:37]** The prime command loads project context (incl. PRD) at the start of every conversation
- **[0:04:20]** Technique 2: modular rules architecture, keep global rules short with a reference section
- **[0:07:20]** Technique 3: commandify everything, anything prompted more than twice becomes a command
- **[0:09:20]** Technique 4: context reset between planning and execution using an output plan document
- **[0:11:35]** Technique 5 (most important): system evolution, treat every bug as a chance to strengthen the system
- **[0:13:29]** Mindset: don't just fix the bug, fix the system that allowed the bug

## Transcript

[Raw transcript](../raw/the-5-techniques-separating-top-agentic-engineers-right-now.md)
