The way I would phrase it is: software engineering is the craft of delivering the right code at the right time, where "right code" means it can be trusted to do the "right thing."

A bit clunky, but I think that can be scaled from individual lines of code to features or entire systems, whatever you are responsible for delivering, and encompasses all the processes that go around figuring what code is to be actually written and making sure it does what it's supposed to.

Trust and accountability are absolutely a critical aspect of software engineering and the code we deliver. Somehow that is missed in all the discussions around AI-based coding.

The whole phenomenon of AI "workslop" is not a problem with AI, it's a problem with lack of accountability. Ironically, blaming workslop on AI rather than organizational dysfunction is yet another instance of shirking accountability!