AI HERO AWARD - MEET THE 1ST WINNERS

As we transition into an AI-first organization, we are honored to announce two 1st heroes: Andrew Le and Vin. Let's dive into their mindset for this AI-first era. 

Vin (Engineering Manager)

Vin was tasked with a monumental challenge: leading the AI SDLC transformation while simultaneously managing the Accounting Plus product.

Q: How did you handle the pressure and balance both of these massive roles?

Vin: "At first, I looked for synergy. I integrated our new AI-SDLC workflows directly into Accounting Plus. I enabled the team to use them and gathered immediate feedback. This way, one task served both goals. However, as the demand for AI-SDLC grew, I realized I needed to focus 100% on this transformation to move the company forward, so I eventually transitioned out of the product role to lead AI full-time."

Q: What was the first thing you did after being assigned to "settle down the first brick"?

Vin: "Actually, we had been investigating AI-SDLC long before the team was officially born. We just brought the 'bricks' from our previous research to the correct place. But the most important first step after the kick-off was finding my teammates and supporters. I shared the vision with them immediately because I knew I couldn't handle a transformation this big alone!"

Q: Now that the system is taking shape, what feedback made you feel your solutions worked?

Vin: "Honestly, I think no feedback is better than this AI Hero award! Knowing that so many managers voted for me because of our team's output is the ultimate validation that we are on the right track."

Q: What is the most important mindset for the Agentic SDLC era?

Vin: "Harness the Engineering Mindset. AI is powerful, but you must work with it effectively. We also focus on Mob Programming to reduce decision and review fatigue. It’s about people and AI working in sync."

Andrew Le (Senior Software Engineer (Golang)

Andrew didn’t set out to win an award; he set out to solve the "PR Pile-up." He created K.A.I (Kron Agent Intelligence) to eliminate the manual friction of the development lifecycle.

Q: What was the "breaking point" that made you build K.A.I?

Andrew: “AI helped us write code so fast that manual reviews became a massive bottleneck. I built K.A.I to cut through that noise and highlight what actually needs attention. Once the core was built, it was easy to add 'handy' automations, like summarizing standups and tracking down flaky E2E tests, to handle all those small tasks that eat up our day.”

Q: Why go "Local-First" instead of using existing cloud tools?

Andrew: “I wanted AI automation to be practical for real engineering while giving developers more privacy and control. I can go' local' thanks to MFv culture, which gives other members and me the room to explore ideas beyond our assigned tasks. MFV has a strong sharing culture that turns personal experiments into reusable tools.

Furthermore, going local is a self-choice that must align with project speed: Speed isn't just runtime; it's adoption and trust. K.A.I focus on simple CLI flows and cost control. I match the model to the task, using lightweight models for routine work and stronger models only when complex reasoning is needed."

Q: K.A.I save colleagues 45 minutes a day. How does that impact feel?

Andrew: “It’s really rewarding to see a small, engineer-driven idea bring value. What matters most to me isn't claiming a big impact, but simply reducing repetitive friction for my teammates. I hope it encourages more practical experiments across the office.”

Q: Your advice for those who want to build AI tools, not just use chatbots?

Andrew: "Start with a painful, repetitive workflow, not the technology. Keep the first version small. Treat AI automation like real engineering: define clear inputs, outputs, guardrails, and cost awareness. And most importantly, share what you build. That is how a personal experiment becomes a team evolution."

YOUR VALUE, MOVED FORWARD

The stories of Andrew and Vin prove that MFV is an incubator for innovation where we provide the space, trust, and community to build solutions that scale. By eliminating micromanagement and encouraging "ZigZag" innovation, we enable our engineers to move their value forward by transitioning from code execution to System Orchestration.

Are you ready to stop prompting and start architecting? Join Money Forward Vietnam to be the next AI Hero!