From Tools to Teammates: Unlocking AI’s 10X Potential

Director of Emerging Technologies Talks About AI Code Editors, Chat Interfaces, and Agentic AI

By MAXX Potential

Posted: March 20, 2025
Businesses

“AI has the potential to 10x a 10x engineer,” Tucker Mahan, Director of Emerging Technologies at MAXX Potential, pondered in a conversation about AI and how he’s been using the technology in his projects. There’s a reason that he hit his stride while interacting with the newest technologies. He’s quick to try, learn, and play with the newest technologies that become available, and he enjoys it too.

What is Agentic AI?

“Early on, we called AI a tool, but at this point, I’m past calling it a tool. It’s my partner. It’s my secret best friend. It’s who I go to for advice. It’s my coworker or someone who works for me. It’s anything I need it to be because I can make it assume any persona, right? Such as a stakeholder.” Tucker shares how his perspective on AI has shifted in the last few years.

Agentic AI refers to the concept where Artificial Intelligence is given agency. Tucker is often working alongside AI on his projects. It’s not uncommon to knock on his virtual office door, and find that he’s in the middle of working with 2-3 different AI partners on several of his concurrent projects. Tucker uses a number of different platforms, including AI-powered Code Editors like Cursor, Void, and Trae and chat interfaces like Grok, ChatGPT, and MAXXgpt, a custom-built platform for folks in the MAXX ecosystem.

A Quick Comparison of AI Code Editors and Chat Interfaces

AI Code Editors

“Thanks to some of the Cursor updates, I’ve been able to spin up some pretty cool greenfield projects in four hours.” Tucker shared. Cursor, an AI-powered code editor, is built on a fork of Visual Studio code, and it integrates models from Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google. Its true focus is real-time coding assistance.

Cursor has developed an agent, which can be prompted with anything—from a basic app outline to a highly specific feature—and it will call tools as needed to generate code, adapt to the task, and deliver results. This allows users to start an app from scratch, following best practices, or enhance an existing codebase. The agent learns the code, identifies inefficiencies, and suggests smart improvements. Here’s a list of alternatives to Cursor.

“It’s like I have a team of junior developers to lead,” Tucker explains. “It has problem solving that’s very context-driven because it’s right there in your code base with you. And so it leverages the indexed code base that it has to, one, enable faster autocompletion and, two, debug. Cursor is now leaps and bounds above where it was when they first rolled it out, and I’m also closely following the development of Trae and Void, an open source version with the same intent.”

Chat Interfaces

“I’m honestly starting to use Grok more than I use ChatGPT, but more honestly, I use them for very different use cases. Grok is great because it’s so quick and it pulls in so much data from other sources into how it answers, which is pretty cool.” Tucker discussed how Grok has become a powerful coworker on his projects, also referencing other alternatives to ChatGPT. “Grok 3 delivers fast, well-sourced answers with sharp insights tailored to my needs.”

Due to Grok’s chat memory and internet search settings, it can supply a lot of insight and information when asked. Most recently, Tucker turned to Grok for help. “I just gave Grok the full call for papers, and it ended up searching 20 web pages and pulling in existing data throughout my chat with it about the conference that I was submitting for, including past speakers. It also took into account who I am and suggested talks that are within my lane.”

“To quote Elizabeth Papile, our Marketing Director, she called Grok ‘a refinery’, the place where she goes to clean up an idea that she brainstormed alongside ChatGPT.” Tucker shared. “I’m inclined to agree, I often end up in ChatGPT with random thoughts, asking it for ideas, but I do more strategic thought exercises with Grok.”

Does AI Help Me 10x My 10x?

“A 10x engineer is historically the common phrase that refers to someone who could do the work of ten people,” Tucker ponders the question. While it’s not a precise measurement, this type of individual often outpaces their colleagues.

Artificial intelligence seems to have the ability to help anyone with aptitude become a 10x engineer. As it is, with every new release, AI models are outpacing themselves. Tucker has pondered this idea often, and he said, “Claude 3.7 Sonnet, Cursor, and a developer can go from an idea to a functional prototype in hours, not days – effectively, that developer with the help of AI is 10x-ing their 10x potential.”

Undeniably, this superscales productivity.

Tips to Help AI Chat Interfaces 10x Your Work

“It depends on how you use AI, which tools you’re using, and what your end goal is.” Tucker dives into the best practices for managing multiple tasks or projects alongside AI. He points out that it’s ideal to build a relationship with AI, focusing on having conversations and informing it on your work. He says, “The more context you provide, the more it knows, the more it can help you stick to management of multiple tasks or projects. If you keep it updated on what you’re doing and what you need to do, it can help you keep track of what you’ve done.”

When it comes to automation, AI can be the best companion for scouring data to determine what’s most urgent or important. AI excels at classifying information, and if you supply rules for classification, the AI can build out a system of prioritization.

“The other thing is it can help you scope out a project better.” Tucker said. He uses AI to help outline projects, develop smart goals, provide milestones, and set forth a time plan. While Tucker might edit the plan, it’s still a good starting point. He points out that, “Sometimes I throw the answer back. I’m like, ‘hey, you didn’t consider that I have a 10-day vacation plan in the middle of this. Take that into account, redo this.’ And it does.”

The feedback that AI can offer to a project can be so helpful. Tucker shared that he asks AI questions like:

What should I be asking?
What are some things I’m not considering?
Is this the best idea, tell me the hard truths?
How could I frame this prompt better to get better results?

“And one of my favorite prompts to ask AI is, ‘based on what I’ve done, what’s the best example of this XYZ thing?’” Tucker shares. AI continues to demonstrate that it can learn its prompter and build on that information. Mahan shared more, “And have it spit back to me what it knows about what I’ve done, because I use it so much for all of my day-to-day job, my bigger projects, my smaller projects, everything in between.”

Agentic AI as the New Frontier

Agentic AI has emerged as an invaluable partner in the workplace, and it is in the process of redefining productivity and collaboration. Tucker Mahan’s experiences illuminate a future where AI not only enhances individual capabilities but also joins us as secretaries in meetings and as co-creators in projects. This evolution from tool to teammate promises a shift in how we work, empowering even the most proficient among us to scale new heights of efficiency. To quote Star Trek, let us go “where no man has gone before.”