Reimagine, don't Retrofit: A leadership guide to AI-Driven Software Development

Ricardo Gonzalez Vargas

Feb 2026 · Ricardo Gonzalez Vargas

About this ebook

Teams are producing more code than ever. Dashboards are green. And something is quietly breaking. AI coding assistants didn't break your development process; they revealed it was already fragile. Reimagine, Don't Retrofit is a field-tested argument that the software development lifecycle itself needs to be reimagined for the AI era, from governance and metrics to team roles and delivery flow.

About the author

Ricardo González Vargas has been building software since very young, when he sold his first software product. Nearly three decades later, as CTO, he leads the technical delivery strategy for cloud adoption, DevOps, and AI-driven transformation across Latin America, having guided the delivery of hundreds cloud projects across Telco, Healthcare, Banking, Fintech, Startups and Digital Marketing. He has co-founded various companies, built engineering teams, and delivered an immense number of presentations to technical and executive audiences. Recognized as a Microsoft Regional Director for 22 consecutive years and an AWS Ambassador, Ricardo is known for bridging strategy and execution: turning boardroom vision into engineering reality. He writes about technology leadership, cloud governance, and AI adoption.

Carolina Cruz is a Gestalt and Family Constellation therapist with training in therapeutic work with parental figures, clown therapy, and the transpersonal SAT program, completed in Mexico, Colombia, and Chile. She integrates tools like dream work from a Gestalt perspective, exploring transgenerational dynamics and self-discovery processes.

With 18 years of experience as a publicist in Latin America, she has led communication strategies, managed teams, driven business expansion, and founded startups with regional impact.