Phase 1: The Tool Landscape · 20 min · Any new AI coding tool

Evaluating Any New Tool in Ten Minutes

A new tool launches every week. You don't need to learn them all. You need a 10-minute test that tells you if it's worth your time.

Hiring signal: What changes when you use this: you can evaluate any new AI coding tool in 10 minutes — which means you stop chasing hype and start adopting tools based on evidence.

What you will learn

Use a repeatable 10-minute checklist to evaluate any new AI coding tool
Test whether a tool can build, handle corrections, and deploy
Decide when to adopt a new tool vs. when to wait
Avoid hype-driven tool adoption

Your Mission

Run a standardized 10-minute evaluation on a new AI coding tool you haven't tried. Make an adopt/wait/skip decision with evidence. Output: tool_evaluation.md.

You need: A new AI coding tool you haven't tried. A 10-minute timer.

Time: 10 minutes (literally).

Step 1: Categorize It (Minute 1-2)

Ask: which of the four categories does this fit?

Browser app builder? IDE-native? Terminal agent? Design-to-code?
If it doesn't fit any, it's either genuinely novel (rare) or confusingly marketed (common).

You now know its strengths and limitations from the category alone.

Write in your file:

Unlock the full lesson

You've read the first 2 sections. The rest of this lesson covers Tool: [name], Step 2: The Build Test (Minute 3-5), Build Test, Step 3: The Correction Test (Minute 6-7), Correction Test, Step 4: The Deploy Test (Minute 8-9), Deploy Test, Step 5: The Verdict (Minute 10), Verdict: [Adopt / Wait / Skip], You're Done — plus a hands-on lab, quiz, and project artifact.

Create a free account to unlock Phase 0 and Phase 1 of every course — no credit card.