4-Day Team Workshop

AI for Dev Teams Workshop

Move beyond ad-hoc AI usage, as a team, with this hands-on format combining mental models, practical exercises, and workflow design.

Duration

4x1 day, 2x2 days, or
4 days in one week

Format

In-person or remote,
with offline exercises

Participants

1-2 dev teams,
5-15 people

Language

German,
English

Working with AI coding tools is, in many ways, similar to working with a junior developer: sometimes everything works better than expected, sometimes worse, and most of the time your impact on the outcome is larger than you think. Getting good results consistently is a skill you have to learn.

Course Contents

Foundations

How LLMs work, how to think about AI as a dev, and how to prompt effectively.

Tools & Productivity

Different kinds of coding assistants, context management, and practical interaction structure.

Real-World Application

Frontend, backend, UX, and DevOps with specs, planning, and TDD.

Reliability & Security

Hallucinations, secret handling, prompt injection, and unsafe code risks.

Adoption

Tool comparison, team workflow decisions, and shared best practices.

Individual

We start with an intro call and tune the workshop content to your team, stack, and current challenges.

Course Schedule

Delivery Formats

1

Stretched

Over 4 weeks, one day a week

2

Regular

Over 2 weeks, two days a week

3

Intense

4 days within a single week

Daily Program

This is a suggestion. We run a short interview first and fine-tune the agenda to your team and use-case.

1

Day 1

Models, Prompts & Agent Loops

Lectures
  • LLM fundamentals and characteristics for software developers
  • Model differences and practical selection criteria
  • Prompting fundamentals for reliable structured outputs
  • Agent loops and tool calling essentials
Offline exercises
  • Test different models for yourself and compare results
  • Implement an agent tool yourself
2

Day 2

Harnesses & How to Work with Them

Lectures
  • AI coding harness types and practical tradeoffs
  • Prompt debugging and output structure control
  • Agent memory with AGENTS.md and context discipline
  • Agent customization with slash commands MCP A2A skills
  • Evaluating tools and setups for team impact
Offline exercises
  • Try different coding harnesses in your project
  • Write your own slash command and skill
3

Day 3

Methodologies & Real Work

Lectures
  • What to delegate to AI and what to keep
  • AI use cases across backend frontend UX DevOps
  • From vibecoding to engineering execution modes
  • Workflow loops for planning iteration refactoring validation
  • Spec-driven development and TDD with AI
  • Security basics for local and remote agents
  • Collaboration boundaries between developers and AI agents
Offline exercises
  • Do a small task with AI that you are an expert on
  • Do a small task with AI that you are less familiar with
4

Day 4

Build Your Own Workflow

Guided discussions
  • Which AI tools and harnesses to use (and what the common denominator is)
  • Which models to use for what
  • Your workflow model
  • Rules for safe usage
  • When not to use AI

Target Group

This workshop is designed for software development teams who want to move beyond ad-hoc AI usage and establish a reliable, shared way of working with AI in their daily development process.

It is a strong fit if your team...

  • has experimented with tools like GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, or Cursor - but results are inconsistent
  • is unsure when to trust AI, when to verify, and when to avoid it entirely
  • wants to increase development speed without sacrificing code quality or security
  • is evaluating different tools and models but lacks a clear decision framework
  • needs alignment across the team on best practices, workflows, and expectations

Particularly valuable for...

  • Product teams (frontend, backend, fullstack) integrating AI into day-to-day work
  • Tech leads and senior developers defining how AI should be used in their teams
  • Engineering managers driving AI adoption in a structured and responsible way

This is not a beginner coding course and not a generic introduction to AI. Participants should be comfortable with modern software development practices.

By the end of the workshop, your team will not just "use AI more," but will have a clear, practical approach to using it effectively, safely, and consistently - starting the next day.

Instructors

Experienced software engineers and product-focused technologists, working hands-on with modern AI tooling in client projects.

Dr. Philip Heltweg Avatar

Dr. Philip Heltweg

Founder

Philip holds a Dr.-Ing. in Computer Science and a Master's in Data Science. He has over ten years of experience as a software engineer and technical product manager in industry. In this workshop, he focuses on how to use AI not just for coding, but as part of a structured development process - from shaping tasks and specifications to aligning technical and non-technical stakeholders.

https://heltweg.org
Dr. Georg Schwarz Avatar

Dr. Georg Schwarz

Freelancer

Georg holds a Dr.-Ing. in Computer Science, with a focus on microservice architectures. He has built and evaluated complex software systems end-to-end, from full-stack implementation to platform engineering and architecture. In this workshop, he brings a systems perspective to AI-assisted development, helping teams integrate AI-generated code into existing engineering workflows effectively.

https://georg-schwarz.com

Both instructors combine hands-on industry experience with years of teaching at the university level, where they have taught courses in software and data engineering.

They actively work on modern engineering challenges - including AI-assisted development, architecture, and product delivery - and translate these experiences directly into the workshop.

Rather than theory alone, they share practical experience, opinionated lessons learned, and real-world tradeoffs from working on production systems.

Their goal is simple: to make everything in this course immediately applicable to your team's daily work.

Ready to Define Your Team's AI Workflow?

By the end of the workshop, your team will have a clear and practical way to use AI effectively, safely, and consistently.