Made to measure

HyperCard demonstrated that nonprogrammers could create software tailored to their needs, but its vision remained limited by the cost and complexity of building custom tools, leading the industry toward standardized, “off-the-rack” applications with fixed interfaces and limited settings. The text argues that AI agents and coding tools may now make adaptation economical by allowing interfaces and temporary task-specific tools to be shaped around roles, teams, workflows, or decisions while preserving a stable shared source of data, permissions, history, and standards. It distinguishes this approach from unlimited configurability or software built from scratch, proposing that products should retain a coherent core while their views and controls adapt where fit matters. Examples from Webflow and Linear describe teams creating short-lived internal tools for design, marketing, and workflow tasks, illustrating a shift in which the main challenge moves from producing software to exercising judgment about what should remain consistent and what can change. The piece concludes that AI could enable “made-to-measure” software without fragmenting organizational systems, and previews Webflow’s planned presentation of this direction at its September conference.

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