How Agentic SDLC Turned a 5-month Project Into 5 Days with Brian Elliott, CEO at Blitzy and Tom Jackson, CTO at RSM US LLP - Modern CTO Recap

Podcast: Modern CTO

Published: 2026-01-12

Duration: 33 minutes

Guests: Brian Elliott, Tom Jackson

Summary

AI agents are dramatically accelerating software development by autonomously handling 80% of the workload, significantly increasing engineering velocity. Organizational change management is now the primary bottleneck in implementing these technologies.

What Happened

Brian Elliott, CEO of Blitzy, introduced their platform as a transformative tool for software development, capable of autonomously handling about 80% of the workload in large-scale projects. This capability allows enterprises to reduce project timelines from months to mere days, as evidenced by RSM US LLP's experience with Blitzy, where a project was reduced from five months to just five days.

Tom Jackson, CTO at RSM US LLP, shared how his organization, which employs 600-700 developers, has seen a 5X increase in engineering velocity since integrating Blitzy. Currently, 20-30 developers across four or five teams are utilizing the platform, highlighting its scalability and impact on enterprise-level operations.

Blitzy's approach includes creating a comprehensive knowledge graph of a codebase to generate human-readable specifications. This process, which varies in duration based on the codebase size, forms the backbone of their spec-driven development, integrating seamlessly with platforms like GitHub for enhanced collaboration.

The deployment of Blitzy follows a 'crawl, walk, run' methodology, ensuring that organizations can integrate it effectively and sustainably. Despite the technological advancements, Tom Jackson identified organizational change management as the new bottleneck, emphasizing the importance of understanding priorities and making technical trade-offs.

Brian Elliott emphasized the importance of cultural fit and potential over direct experience in hiring, a philosophy that aligns with Blitzy's focus on team-based culture and customer-centric development. This approach ensures that teams are not only technically proficient but also aligned with the company's values.

Leadership insights from the guests included advice on communication and decision-making. Tom Jackson advised on the importance of speaking up in meetings to drive progress, while Brian Elliott stressed hiring for cultural fit as essential for long-term success.

Key Insights