Spec-Driven Development with Kiro and AIDLC

Beyond the Prompt: Spec-Driven Development with Kiro and the AI-Driven Development Lifecycle

We've all felt the rush of vibe coding like describe something, watch AI generate it, iterate on instinct. It works great for prototypes. But it breaks down fast when you need production systems, team alignment, and code you can actually own and maintain.
The shift happening right now isn't just about better AI tools. It's a fundamental change in how software gets built — from prompt-driven experimentation to spec-driven development, where AI becomes a structured collaborator embedded across the entire lifecycle, not just a smarter autocomplete.
In this session, we'll unpack that shift through two lenses:

Kiro : AWS's agentic IDE built around spec-driven development, where requirements, design, and tasks are first-class artifacts that AI plans, executes, and iterates against not afterthoughts.

AI-Driven Development Lifecycle (AIDLC) : AWS's reimagined methodology that replaces retrofitted AI-in-Agile with an AI-native approach spanning Inception, Construction, and Operations, with human oversight built into every critical checkpoint.

You'll walk away understanding why the vibe-to-spec shift is non-negotiable for teams building at scale, how AIDLC gives you the process framework, how Kiro gives you the execution engine, and concretely how to start applying both in your next project — whether you're a developer, architect, or just getting started with AI-native building.
Vibe coding got us here. Spec-driven development takes us further.