I’ve recently started integrating AI coding agents into my daily workflow (specifically when using Cursor Composer, Devin, Claude Code), and I’ve noticed a strange pattern in my behavior.

I treat the agent like the worst kind of micro-manager.

When I work with a human junior developer, I try to provide the "why" and the high-level architecture, then give them autonomy to solve the problem. If I stood over their shoulder dictating every variable name, commenting on every logic branch before it was finished, and constantly interrupting with "no, do it this way," they would (rightfully) quit within a week.

However, with the agent, I find that micro-management is actually the optimal strategy.

* I break tasks down into atomic units. * I review code block-by-block rather than feature-by-feature. * I constantly course-correct standard library choices or variable naming conventions in real-time.

And I felt that I am intruding the space of my agents while I should have just trust and let it build. It also sometimes break the seperation of tasks.

What makes me further unsettled is the kind of mental drain and internal conflict with what I have been trained in management.

So my question for you is

Do you micro-manage your agent?

or what's the best pratice?