AI-Based Coding Redefines Software Development

Agentic AI , Application Security , Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning AI-Based Coding Redefines Software Development Cisco's Jeetu Patel: Everyone Will Be a 'Manager of Agents' Michael Novinson (MichaelNovinson) • March 25, 2026     Share Post Share Credit Eligible Get Permission Jeetu Patel, president and chief product officer, Cisco Coding agents that once struggled below the surface level of basic web development can now refactor decades-old enterprise code at a speed and scale far beyond traditional teams, said Jeetu Patel, president and chief product officer at Cisco. See Also: How Technical Debt Puts Critical Infrastructure at Risk This change reframes what engineering talent is for. As AI systems take over the actual writing of code - working continuously, without the constraints of human bandwidth - the engineer's role will move upstream. Directing, reviewing and orchestrating fleets of agents will be a core competency. Organizations that establish that discipline early will outpace those still treating AI as a productivity add-on, he said. "Each one of us, if you're a human, you're going to be a manager of agents," Patel said. In this video interview with Information Security Media Group at RSAC Conference 2026, Patel also discussed: How Cisco's open-source DefenseClaw project provides a secure container for running agentic workloads at machine scale; How agentic AI increases security risks and requires machine-scale defenses; Why open-source ecosystems drive faster, safer innovation in AI. Patel oversees product strategy, engineering and platform innovation across networking, security and collaboration offerings. He aligns product road maps with business growth, drives AI-focused development and helps shape enterprise technology direction, drawing on leadership experience at Box, EMC and Syncplicity.