2025 Recap: The Year the Software Playbook Changed

2025: The Year the Software Playbook Got Written

As 2025 winds down, it’s hard not to feel like we’re standing at the edge of something new.

All year, AI has dominated conversations in our industry and not just in slide decks and conference talks, but in the way real software gets planned, built, and shipped.

To look back on the year, we sat down with Rōnin’s co-founders, Byron McClain and Ryan Kettrey, to discuss what they expected in January, what surprised them, and how they see 2026 taking shape.

What came out of those conversations was clear: 2025 wasn’t just “another busy year.” It marked the beginning of a fundamental shift in how software gets made, exemplified by the growing adoption of AI-driven development tools that allowed teams to rapidly prototype solutions, moving from weeks of manual coding to generating functional concepts within hours.

How did 2025 feel compared to what you expected in January?

At the start of the year, both Byron and Ryan expected a huge surge of AI projects. Especially from larger enterprises.

“We won the hackathon at the end of 2024, and it created a lot of buzz,” Byron said. “I thought we’d get more out of that, and it felt like companies were finally ready to fully embrace AI.”

The reality was more complicated. Big companies did lean into AI, but in safer, incremental ways.

“I think what actually happened in the first part of the year,” Byron explained, “was that larger companies dipped their toes in. They said, ‘Let’s not do giant projects with AI yet. Let’s roll out Copilot. Let’s give people ChatGPT.”

Smaller, startup-style companies moved faster. They showed up wanting proofs of concept, not just conversations. “We did a lot of POCs,” Byron said. “And a few of those turned into real projects.”

Ryan describes 2025 as “a major shift year.”

“At the beginning of the year, I was researching vibe-coding tools — trying 20 different platforms to see if they were even legitimate,” he said. “Back then, you could build some cool UIs, but not much deeper than that. The promise was interesting, but it felt like we were still a ways off.”

By the middle of the year, that changed.

“Around June or July, it felt like the dam was starting to break,” Byron said. “It’s not fully broken yet, but we’re getting there. Now, the majority of our talks with clients are about AI. Everything is AI. Those companies that had dipped their toes in earlier in the year were ready to see what else AI could do.”

How did AI tools change your own work this year?

Both founders described a before-and-after moment with tools like Claude Code.

“I knew AI would keep getting better and that we needed to stay on top of it,” Byron said. “But where we are now versus the beginning of the year? It blows my mind. I don’t even write code in the same way anymore, everything has changed.”

He shared an internal proof-of-concept he put together that he called “SamurAI Council,” which was four agents working together, with a “chairman” coordinating three specialists. The agents score one another’s answers, validate results against a database, make changes, and return a consolidated report to the user.

“This specific POC was the kind of thing that would have taken me two weeks to build by hand,” Byron said. “Now it’s a few hours — and it’s more creative and polished than it would have been before.”

Ryan’s experience echoed the same shift.

“At the start of the year, tools could help you sketch a front end,” he said. “By the end of the year, with Claude Code and others, it’s a different world. These tools can take spreadsheets, Word docs, a pile of requirements… and help you generate acceptance criteria, test cases, and working prototype code.”

That increase in speed not only accelerates the work process but also expands the range and creativity of ideas teams can consider and develop.

“In the past, I wouldn’t add all the ‘cool’ UX touches because there wasn’t time,” Byron said. “Now I feel more creative. I can design the experience I always wanted, and the tools help me get there.”

How are clients approaching AI differently now than at the beginning of the year?

At the beginning of 2025, few clients were asking for AI projects outright. By year’s end, those conversations looked very different.

“Now, more of our clients are using AI tools themselves and asking us how to build AI into their systems,” Ryan said. “They’ll say, ‘We’ve heard you’ve done AI projects. Show us what you’ve built and how we can do something similar.’”

Prospect calls have shifted, too.

Ryan observed a notable shift in client mindset over the course of the year: more clients now enter discussions with a strong desire to implement AI, often stating, “We need to do AI.”

However, he explained that this technology-first approach is not the most effective starting point.

Instead, the team guides clients to first articulate their core business challenges, analyze which existing processes are most labor-intensive, and determine where AI could be strategically integrated to streamline operations and transition employees into higher-value roles. This shift reflects how clients have moved from general interest in AI toward a more solution-oriented, process-improvement mindset.

Also, one of the most striking changes has been the level of preparedness of some prospects when they show up.

“At the beginning of the year, people came with rough ideas,” Ryan said. “Now they’re showing up with full, proof-of-concept, vibe-coded user interfaces. Clickable mockups of their vision. It’s a 180-degree shift in how ideas are communicated.”

While these prototypes are powerful, they still aren’t production systems.

“Where it falls down right now is tying it all together at an enterprise level,” Ryan said. “Security, scale, integrations with in-house APIs and back-office systems — that’s where you still need experienced developers and architects. The tools help, but they don’t replace that judgment.”

How is the software development lifecycle itself starting to change?

Both founders landed on the same theme: the traditional SDLC is under real pressure.

“There’s been such a focus on making developers more productive,” Byron said. “We’re at an inflection point where the developer doesn’t write code in the old way anymore. If you keep the same process — the same layers of BA, QA, Scrum, all the ceremonies — the developer will blow through requirements faster than those teams can feed them. QA gets overwhelmed. Developers sit idle. The pipeline clogs.”

After a recent trip to a client’s headquarters, Byron didn’t mince words.

“I told their director: You’re using an antiquated process. It cannot work with these new tools,” he said. “Everyone needs to be using AI, and you have to rethink your SDLC.”

Ryan sees the same pattern playing out across the industry.

“In the old world, all those roles and checkpoints existed to avoid spending months on something that wasn’t what the business wanted,” he explained. “But if you can generate and regenerate working software in days, the shape of that process changes. Timelines compress. Roles blend. That system needs to evolve.”

He imagines developers acting more like solution leads: talking directly with business stakeholders, using AI to help generate requirements, tests, and code, then iterating quickly until the solution feels right.

“Some of those SDLC practices will stick around, but they’ll look different,” Ryan said. “Developers will end up doing parts of QA and requirements. BA roles may shift toward interviewing stakeholders and letting AI turn that into formal requirements. The boundaries blur.”

Byron goes even further: he predicts the rise of “frontier workers” — people who wear multiple hats because AI lets them.

“The whole idea of a ‘developer’ as a narrow role changes,” he said. “You’ll see people who understand software, users, and process — ‘solutioneers’. AI lets them do more of the work themselves.”

What does all of this mean for people starting their careers?

Both founders are clear on one point: if you refuse to use AI, you’ll fall behind.

“Every developer I talk to — every Rōnin — I tell them you have to be using these tools,” Ryan said. “Clients will expect that they’re either getting more done for the same investment, or the same work for less. That pressure is coming.”

At the same time, they worry about what happens if entry-level roles disappear.

“If 10% to 20% of entry-level white-collar jobs evaporate, but senior people still retire, who’s learning the craft in the middle?” Ryan asked. “We may end up in a world where software looks more like a trade — with apprenticeships where you get paid to learn, use the tools, and grow into that senior role.”

For Byron, the through-line is mindset.

“At the end of the day, if a person is curious, detail-oriented, and willing to keep learning, they’ll be fine,” he said. “If you enjoy change and want to be part of it, this is an exciting time to be in software.”

Looking ahead to 2026: more agents, more collaboration, more change

When asked what 2026 will bring, both Byron and Ryan pointed to agents and workflows, not as buzzwords, but as practical building blocks.

“I think we’ll see agents collaborating more. This is clusters of agents working behind the scenes to improve accuracy and handle more of the workflow,” Byron said. “And I think we’ll stop calling them ‘agents’ eventually. They’ll just be how software works.”

Ryan expects the SDLC changes to accelerate.

“We’re going to keep marching toward compressed roles and faster loops,” he said. “Developers working across multiple projects, guiding agents, checking architecture, and using AI as an extension of their thinking.”

For Rōnin, the plan is simple: stay out in front, then bring clients with us.

“When agents started becoming a thing, we were there figuring them out,” Ryan said. “It’s the same now with vibe coding, multi-agent systems, and AI-driven workflows. Our job is to understand what’s coming, experiment early, and help our clients reshape their systems and teams so they don’t get left behind.”

If your organization is looking at 2026 and wondering how to adapt your software process — not just your tools — this is the work we’re doing every day.

From early prototypes and vibe-coded concepts to production-ready systems that fit securely into your stack, Rōnin is focused on one thing: helping you ship software in this new reality, not just talk about it.

If you’re ready to build AI into your systems in 2026, reach out to us today, and we can get you started.