This is how we went from a team where everyone used AI their own way to one with a consistent, reviewable, onboardable codebase. Three methodologies, six months, one that actually stuck.
The problem with "everyone uses AI their way"
When AI coding tools started getting good, our team did what most teams do: let people figure it out themselves. Seniors, mids, two fresh graduates, everyone had a workflow, everyone was shipping, and nobody was producing the same kind of code.
The cracks showed up in review. Some PRs ignored project conventions entirely. Others were technically correct but bloated, AI-optimized for performance problems we didn't have. Commit histories were noise. Junior developers, who needed the most structure, had the least context to judge whether what the AI gave them was actually good.
This isn't really an AI problem. It's what happens when you hand a power tool to a team with no shared standards and assume it'll work out.
