I tried to “vibe code” a government RFI. Here’s what I learned.
Why I did this: to test how far a single person can go from RFI → product using vibe coding + AI helpers. Edit — 27 Aug 2025 I’ve also expanded this experiment into a more formal vendor-style brief. You can read that follow-up here: Project Brief: TEC Tahatū CV & Cover Letter Builder (Vendor Simulation) TL;DR RFIs can look simple. The work is not. Vibe coding gets you ~80% (exploration, scaffolding, first drafts). The final 20% (debugging, infra, security, accessibility, export fidelity, compliance) still takes months, not weeks — but it’s months, not the year+ you might expect. Tooling friction is real: Copilot vs ChatGPT context split slowed me down. Would I build a production system solo? Yes — if the product has a broad market, not a single-customer (govt-only) dependency. A quick note on PM & architecture roles While I wore the hats of product manager and architect here, I want to acknowledge these are deep, strategic professions. They can make or break products. My sketches came quickly because I’ve spent time around these functions, but it’s not trivial. Respect to those crafts. ...