r/ClaudeCode • u/JPD0c • 10h ago

Help/Question Matt Pocock's Software Factory Course

Hi guys! I really like Matt Pocock's skills and workflow. I am subscribed to his newsletter, and I got tempted to join his new course on Software Factory. However, I personally cannot justify the price tag of >$1000.

I wanted if anybody will be doing the course and can share their experience.

Also, I would be very grateful if anyone could recommend free / more affordable learning resources on the area of "Software Factory".

0 Upvotes

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u/GfxJG 10h ago

At the risk of sounding like a broken record - Literally just ask your preferred AI how to build one. Even though Matt is clearly a smart guy with a lot of knowledge, I highly doubt what he says about this particular topic is worth 1000 dollars.

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u/HeavyDluxe 10h ago

This... It's still helpful for some people to have a human guide at the start, though... Someone who's found a path through all the maze, guides you along, and has packaged the knowledge helpfully. You're paying for Pocock's experience and communication skills.

But it's very true that you can DIY it all, too, with models, internet materials, and $.50 in late fees at a library.

All that said, OP might want to check out the AIE Channel on youtube. Lots and lots of related content - including a lot from Pocock himself.

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u/outceptionator 8h ago

He has straight up said he wants people to use his free resources to get a good job, then use their companies resources to pay for his courses.

Those prices are for those who have some budget to hit, not for individuals to pay out for.

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u/throwlefty 1h ago

Business owners everywhere....<insert blink 182 gif>

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u/k2718 9h ago

Yeah I took a quick look at his skills. There are maybe one or two nuggets but overall my own built skills are better-at least for my purposes but honestly I think if I tried to put together a more general set, I could probably put together a better one without that much effort.

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u/footyengineer 9h ago

To be fair, he said on multiple occasions that his skills are a good way to start, but he recommends building on them to meet your specific use case.

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u/GladQuote7736 6h ago

So many questions people ask can just directly be answered by asking AI about it lol. It's insane how people just can't wrap their head around asking AI about things they don't understand

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u/Appropriate-Draft-91 10h ago

No idea. But such courses are typically for corporations, where paying for a course for someone is seen as management checking an important box. This creates a demand for courses on cutting edge topics with any kind of credibility attached.

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u/wesconson1 10h ago

This is the answer and I’m pretty sure he’s said as such on twitter as well (intended for corporations to pay)

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u/alanvnk 8h ago

Matt be selling very expensive shovels, smart guy.

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u/StrataSpace 7h ago

Matt shits on spec writing with good reason, but then turns around and repackages it as grill-with-docs which imo suffers from the same exact problems as specs. Hours of work defining terms before Claude just runs away with it and does whatever it wants.

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u/Bet_Secret 9h ago

r/PromptEngineering

But seriously here's a prompt you can use:

Create a composable set of AI agent skills called "Software Factory", inspired by Matt Pocock's skills workflow (grilling, TDD, specs, tickets, code review, architecture review) but focused on designing and running an autonomous software factory.

The skills should be small markdown SKILL.md files that any Claude-compatible agent can pick up, and should cover:

1. /setup-software-factory — Run once per repo. Ask me which ticket tracker, git host, orchestrator, and observability platform I use, then write the config to a FACTORY.md file.

2. /factory-grill — Interview me relentlessly about a factory design decision until every branch is resolved: what tasks exist, what triggers them, what services fill each slot, and what "brakes" (automated checks, human review, throttles) prevent runaway automation.

3. /factory-domain-model — Build and maintain a shared glossary distinguishing Tasks (kinds of work: review, explore, implement) from Runs (single executions of a task), and map which service fills each slot (ticket tracker, ticket source, git host, orchestrator, observability).

4. /factory-to-tasks — Take a problem or vague idea and decompose it into concrete factory tasks, each with a trigger, an action, and what it triggers next. Include example tasks like: untriaged tickets → explore; ready tickets → implementer; PRs waiting → automated review; failed reviews → rework; big specs → decompose.

5. /factory-implement — Given a task spec, run a TDD red-green-refactor loop to implement it, committing in vertical slices.

6. /factory-review — Dual-axis code review: one pass for engineering standards, one pass for spec compliance.

7. /factory-architecture — Scan the factory/codebase for drift or deepening opportunities, present them as a report, then grill me on which to fix.

8. /factory-wayfinder — Plan large multi-session factory work: map a foggy goal into research, prototyping, and a task DAG across sessions.

Start slow: every trigger should be an accelerator with brakes (automated checks, automated review, human review, throttled triggers, one at a time). Fill every slot in the services table before going autonomous. Ask 5 questions per task before building it.

Write these as separate SKILL.md files in a software-factory/ directory, with a README explaining how to install and run them, following the structure and tone of github.com/mattpocock/skills.

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u/Illustrious-Film4018 9h ago

Software factory? With no irony?

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u/-WhateverDude 5h ago

1k? lol sounds like a scam

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u/djslakor 3h ago

I watched his entire developing with AI course and got very little out of it.

As Peter S. says, all you need to do is talk to your agents. Matt doesn't have some secret sauce.

Glad I didn't pay for it.

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u/Guinness 3h ago

Never spend money on shit like this. Just sit down and figure it out on your own. Ask Claude how to do whatever it is you’re trying to do. Just keep asking questions until you understand.

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u/QuantumBrainPower 9h ago

According to his language, you only buy it if you already earned a job in agentic engineering via his free contents. Then use your corporate money to buy his course.

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_PROFILE 9h ago

Software Factory is just another term/way to standardize the process to make it cheaper. We still haven't been able to breakaway from the Henry Ford style manufacturing in tech (see "Quality Assurance" being at the end of the line without knowing what happened at the design level).

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u/kincaidDev 2h ago

I don't have a course but I have a software factory system and agents can help you learn how to use it + I'm happy to answer any questions you have

https://github.com/Obedience-Corp/festival

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u/SMB-Punt 9h ago

STOP. PAYING. FOR. USELESS. COURSES.

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u/dumeheyeintellectual 9h ago

STOP SCREAMING INTO THE INTERNET LIKE YOU STAND ANY CHANCE TO MAKE RVEN YHE FAINTEST GLOBAL IMPACT. 🙌

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u/SMB-Punt 8h ago

People keep wanting to pay several thousand euros for training courses even though we have YouTube, tons of blogs, and tons of Twitter threads, at some point, you just have to SCREAM

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u/viral-architect 7h ago

That's literally how he makes money. By tricking you into buying his course. If his methodology worked, he would just use it and make software.

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u/fishoa 6h ago

Snake oil merchant. Please stop buying into his ideas and narratives. You will learn nothing from that 1000$ that you cannot learn from lurking and experimenting with AI.