Steering, Not Prompting: How to Think About Coding with AI Agents

​Prompting is a personal skill; steering is an organizational one. Drawing on real workflows (Claude chat → design system → Claude Code), this session shows how steering files, rules and guidance turn AI coding from an individual hack into something a team can rely on, and where executive judgment still has to sit in the loop.  Even if you’re not an engineer, this talk will improve your skills when working with AI.

​Led by Dave Bellous, VP of Strategy at Metal Toad, Chair of the A100, Vice-Chair of the UofA VMS.

​Check-in: 9:30 AM
Session start: 10:00 AM
Lunch & networking: 11:30 AM

​Dave is a technology and operations executive with more than 25 years leading high-performing teams on large, complex digital projects across the public sector, enterprise, and education. He co-founded Yellow Pencil and served as its CEO for over two decades before selling the business in 2017.

​Since then, Dave has worked with startups across the Edmonton region and consulted for Fox Sports, Disney, the Recording Academy (Grammys), the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, and others on strategic and technology planning, product leadership, and technology leadership. He is a regular speaker at Anthropic and AWS events across the US, advising companies on how to coordinate and work with AI coding agents and how to set up effective AI governance frameworks in the enterprise.