🤖

Agents, Skills & Real Impact

Claude Code - Week 3

Agents Skills Impact Best Practices

2h

Duration

3

Core Topics

Dev

Audience

SLIDE 02 / 20

📚 Recap

Recap from Week 2

Claude Code as an AI-aided development tool

🐛

Bug Fixing

AI-assisted debugging and root cause analysis

📐

Code Standards

Refactoring and quality improvements

🧪

TDD

Test-driven development assistance

🔒

Security

Security awareness and pattern detection

"AI is helpful, but structure matters"

SLIDE 03 / 20

🤖 Agents

What Is an AI Agent?

An Agent is:

A goal-oriented AI worker
Has context, responsibility, and boundaries
Persistent across tasks

Think of it as a junior developer with a specific role

Example Roles

🐛 Bug-fix Agent

Specializes in debugging

🔄 Refactoring Agent

Code quality improvements

🔒 Security Agent

Security review focus

SLIDE 04 / 20

⚡ Skills

What Is a Skill?

A Skill is:

A reusable capability or instruction set
Defines how the agent behaves
Defines what standards it follows

Example Skills

Laravel coding standards
TDD-first workflow
OWASP security checklist
API design patterns

Skills = Reusable Instructions

SLIDE 05 / 20

⚖️ Comparison

Agent vs Skill

🤖 Agent

Has a role
Goal-oriented
Persistent context
Works on tasks

⚡ Skill

Has a capability
Instruction-oriented
Reusable logic
Shapes how tasks are done

Visual Comparison

SLIDE 06 / 20

📊 Baseline

Without Agent & Skill

The baseline experience

Common Issues

Single prompt usage
No long-term context
Inconsistent results
Repeated mistakes
Style inconsistency
Missed edge cases

Works Well For

Small tasks
Quick questions
One-off queries

SLIDE 07 / 20

🤖 Agent Only

With Agent but No Skill

Agent has a role but no strict rules

✓ Pros

Better focus
Task continuity
Role awareness

✗ Cons

Still inconsistent coding style
Security and standards may vary
No enforced patterns

Result: Better than baseline, but unreliable

SLIDE 08 / 20

⚡ Skill Only

With Skill but No Agent

Strong instructions, no task ownership

✓ Pros

Better code quality
Consistent patterns
Standards enforced

✗ Cons

No memory of progress
Harder for complex flows
No task ownership

Result: Good for reviews, not execution

SLIDE 09 / 20

🏆 Best Practice

With Agent + Skill

🤖

Agent

Who is doing the work

⚡

Skill

How the work is done

✓ Consistent output

✓ Better architecture

✓ Reduced regression

✓ Faster iteration

SLIDE 10 / 20

📊 Impact

Impact Comparison

Quality / Speed / Risk by Scenario

Scenario	Quality	Speed	Risk
No Agent / No Skill	Low	Fast	High
Agent Only	Medium	Medium	Medium
Skill Only	Medium	Slow	Medium
Agent + Skill	High	Fast	Low

SLIDE 11 / 20

🐛 Bug Fixing

Bug Fixing Impact

❌ Without Agent

Fix symptom, not root cause

Quick patch applied
No understanding of why
Bug returns later

✓ With Agent + Skill

1. Reproduce bug

Understand the issue

2. Add test

Capture the failure

3. Fix logic

Address root cause

4. Prevent regression

Test passes forever

SLIDE 12 / 20

📐 Standards

Code Standard Impact

Enforced Patterns

Naming conventions
Layer separation
Framework best practices
Consistent structure

Reduced

Code review comments
Rework time
Onboarding friction
Technical debt

Code Review Comments Reduction

SLIDE 13 / 20

🧪 TDD

TDD Impact

Agent Enforces

Test-first mindset
Coverage awareness
Edge case identification

Result

More confidence during refactor
Easier onboarding for new devs
Living documentation

Test Coverage Over Time

SLIDE 14 / 20

🔒 Security

Security Impact

Skill-based Checklist

Input validation
AuthZ vs AuthN
Injection risks
OWASP patterns

Agent Ensures

Security is not "optional"
Issues are flagged early
Consistent review process

Security Issues Found Early

SLIDE 15 / 20

💼 Real World

Real Project Example

❌ Without Agent

Fix takes 1 hour
Regression appears next sprint
More firefighting
Lower trust in releases

✓ With Agent + Skill

Fix takes 1.5 hours
No regression
Less firefighting
Higher trust in releases

Net gain: Less firefighting, higher trust

SLIDE 16 / 20

⚠️ Caution

When NOT to Use Agents

Overhead > Benefit

📝

Very Small Scripts

Quick one-liners don't need structure

🧪

One-off Experiments

Throwaway code, POCs

🔍

Exploratory Spikes

Learning and discovery phase

⚖️

Simple Queries

Quick questions don't need agents

SLIDE 17 / 20

🚀 Strategy

Adoption Strategy

Start Small

One Agent

Pick a focused role

One Skill

Define core standards

Expand Gradually

Add Security

Security review skill

Add Testing

TDD enforcement

Add Architecture

Pattern enforcement

SLIDE 18 / 20

🎯 Summary

Key Takeaways

🤖

Agents give Ownership

Focused, goal-oriented work

⚡

Skills give Consistency

Reliable, repeatable patterns

Together They:

📈

Improve Quality

🛡️

Reduce Risk

📚

Scale Knowledge

SLIDE 19 / 20

💬 Discussion

Open Discussion

Where would agents help most in our projects?
What skills should be standardized?
What risks should we avoid?

SLIDE 20 / 20

🔮

Next Week Preview

Week 4 Topics

🤝

Multi-agent Collaboration

Agents working together

🔄

CI/CD + AI Agents

Integration in pipelines

📊

Measuring ROI

AI impact in development

🏠 All Sessions